Hola people. There are two kinds of whole olives in the deli department at Unimart. One kind is rather dull in flavor with an exotic name aceitunas azurto? agurto? and the other kind are the best olives I have ever eaten with the boring name of aceitunas naturals. I have some olive trees and would love to make those olives.
Does anyone have an idea of how the aceitunas naturals are made… what the recipe is? I know they are salty and sour but there is another flavor. Ideas voraciously welcomed!!!
thanks mem. at the back of the store to the left is the deli department, different cheeses, sliced ham and other meats, small metal table behind a glass wall were they serve you (per kilo) a pickled salad and/or those two distinctly different olives. They put them in a small plastic bag, weigh them and hand them over the counter… They are kept in refridgerated metal cafeteria style serving containers near the pickled salad and the cheeses. Not in the dairy section with the prepackaged stuff. In the deli dept you order the amount you want,
When things like meats, lunch meats, pichanga, olives, other freshly pickled veggies are sold from the counter to your specified proportion (in Chile anyways) it is called “a granel”.
The olive water usually only contains water and salt (thus a saline solution), it is the species of olives that make all the difference. From your description, the azapa olives at that particular counter aren’t great but the other one is. You need to ask what type of aceitunas they are as again the species makes a difference in flavor. Azapas can also vary in flavor so one never knows unless you ask for a sample from the counter worker.
Ah yes you do indeed have a better/different unimarc than we have. Never seen them offering olives from behind the counter. That being said, they have reduced down their offerings in the last couple years. They used to import many more fancy options from europe and now there is very little to distinguish unimarc from lider/eltit anymore.
We are big olive fans so will have to be sure to check on these delicious olives you mentioned when we are travelling and see other unimarc locations
When I lived in La Reina, we had a big Unimarc walking distance from my house and I remembered they had various imported products. I’m thinking Waitrose, maybe?
Where we are now, the Unimarcs are like mini-supermarkets. We only really go to one if we need a thing or two and happen to be nearby. Like, the other day we were getting gas and there was a Unimarc next to it, so I ran in to get a few basic things we needed
yes, hope you find them! Will update if I can get more info. The difference in flavor between the two varieties of olives offered is substantial and memorable, Few things in the food department inspire
me enough to write about them… so far only Haagan Daaz vanilla bean ice cream (impossibly expensive here, can only afford it in Canada), the pie de maracuya (photo) in a pasteleria in my town and these olives.
I doubt these are imported, they are for sale in bulk and are in the deli dept in a metal serving dish in a sort of brine. My town only has 40K people so it is a small unimart.
I bought the prepackaged to compare. They are a slightly less salty version of the Don Juan Azapa aceitunas Amarga naturales. I will try to figure out the recipe using the listed ingredients, without the chemical and with less salt. Thanks everyone, the deli version is much better!
Azapa Valley here in Arica is one of the main suppliers to Chile market, many advertised as “Aceitunas de Azapa” are in fact peruvian, from the near city of Tacna, quality varies, and depend a lot of taste and preferences of each comsumer, some black olives are cured in salt and water only, others are cured with caustic soda, in particular green olives are cured with caustic soda.
The process with soda has bad press, however is better for healt then those cured only with salt because produces a better lactic fermentation and is richer in probiotics. Here in Azapa my tocayo Tomislav Bezmalinovic produces the best olives in my view, he has a store/warehouse at Vega Central in Santiago but I dont know where is located exactly, is called “Aceitunas Bezma” he produces olive oil too
gracias Tom these olives are black and perhaps it is the vinegar they use that gives the distinctive flavor. They are sold in bulk. Here is a pic of the ingredientes, cannot identify the chemical symbol
The lactic acid may cause a slight fermentation (sour). It is also the fourth in quantity ingredient after water, salt and the sodium benzoate (which is bitter).
Hi!
NaCl is cloruro de sodio (sal común y corriente)
The other four aditives are preservants (Benzoato de Sodio, Ácido Láctico, Ácido Cítrico, Sorbato de Potasio) are all preservantes, to avoid bacterial grown while stored and transported.
Olives are biologial stuff so, unless you live either in Azapa or Atacama, where the olives are and grown, you may not consume it without those preservants. Flavor depends on many factors, mainly the type of olive (there are many), the year of harvest, the process to cure it, etc. normally they are all healty, but flavour may vary, even from the same supplier
