Hi Jean-Louis in America, ;-)

you wrote:
>Didn't you say that you couldn't eat fresh olives because they taste
>too hot?

Correct. I always eat them aged. But I found that my problems with
frehs ones are decreasing and sometimes I hopefully will be able to
eat them fresh from the tree.

Jean-Louis:
>My opininion is that, without all the processings like storing in a
>jar, or drying (nuts...), many foods would be inedible or much less
>attractive to us, and our diet would be completely different.

Storing in a jar doesn't look much like processing to me. But if I
had the opportunity to always get foods fresh from the tree/bush/etc.
I also think my diet would be very different.

Jean-Louis:
>By the way, I once tried some hazelnuts which had just fallen from the
>tree (in the street) and... I had to spit them out in emergency. Has it
>happened to anyone of you?

No. I remember one fall some years ago when I walked through a forest
and found fresh hazelnuts. They tasted fine. Just more water content
than older ones, that was all. They tasted more like a vegetable than
like a fatty nut.

Here in Europe nuts are in season and I collected walnuts from a big
tree I know since three years. Since the nights before my scavenging-
day were very cold (below freezing temperature) the nuts must have
been frozen several times.
It didn't affect their stop (it came very clear) and they digested
well.=20
That wasn't much of a surprise for me since I already assumed that
walnuts, hazelnuts and other local sorts survive freezing easily -
else they wouldn't have spread here.

Always raw regards,

Stefan
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