Olives occupy a uniquely problematic position in Aajonus's framework. They are not presented as a staple food, nor are they freely encouraged. They are, in his words, not really meant for humans to eat in their natural raw state. He states plainly: "Olives aren't really meant for us to eat. Yeah, they have to be processed in an exceptional way to be healthy. They have a lot of strychnine in them, so they have to be aged. And you really have to know what you're doing to process olives. It's not something that you can just grow some olives in your yard and expect to not get sick from eating them or even pressing the oil out of them."

Despite this, black olives, those that have reached full maturity and blackened on the tree, represent the single acceptable form of olive for occasional consumption within the Primal Diet. The black stage is the pivotal marker because, at that point, the strychnine-type enzyme that makes raw and green olives dangerous is no longer present in the fruit. This biological change at the point of maximum ripeness is what distinguishes black olives from all other olive forms.

Aajonus does not position black olives as a regular dietary food. They are something to be consumed only if a craving arises, only occasionally, and only in small quantities. The craving itself is treated as a signal: the body is indicating it needs a particular nutrient that, in some individuals, olives uniquely supply.

The broader olive discussion in Aajonus's teachings is almost always intertwined with the dangers of olive oil, green olives, and the strychnine treatment process. Black unsalted olives are the narrow exception carved out of an otherwise highly cautionary framework around all olive products.

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Aajonus identifies a specific enzyme naturally present in olives that he describes as a "strychnine type enzyme", one that can make you very sick. He uses the term "strychnine" directly throughout multiple sources, sometimes saying "strychnine-type enzyme" and at other times simply "strychnine." The core point is that this compound is naturally poisonous in olives and must be neutralized before olives can be safely consumed.

He explains: "Also olives have strychnine in them, or they have a strychnine type enzyme which can make you very sick."

And again, more directly: "Olives are poisonous. They have to be treated with strychnine. That enzyme in them is treated with strychnine."

This is the central biochemical concern around all olive products.

In black olives, those allowed to ripen fully to the black stage on the tree, the natural maturation process itself neutralizes the strychnine-type enzyme. Aajonus states this clearly: "If you can find black olives, when they've reached the black stage, they don't have that enzyme in them anymore. So black olives are fine."

He reinforces this in another passage: "Or they pick them black. When they've reached their highest maturity stage. It's gotten rid of that enzyme."

This means the maturation pathway, not the strychnine treatment pathway, is the safe route. The tree, given time to fully ripen the olive to blackness, eliminates the problematic enzyme naturally.

Beyond simply being safe when black, Aajonus notes that olives appear to supply a specific nutrient that some people lack and cannot obtain elsewhere in sufficient quantities. He says: "In some people they have supplied a nutrient that was needed." He does not identify the specific nutrient in the available passages, but his framing implies this is an individual-specific need rather than a universal one.

The craving mechanism functions here as a reliable signal. If the body craves black olives, it is likely seeking that particular nutrient. If no craving arises, there is no reason to seek them out.

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For olives, the state of ripeness is the single most determinative factor in whether the olive is safe or dangerous.

• Green olives: Naturally poisonous. The strychnine-type enzyme is fully active. Commercial green olives are always treated with actual strychnine solution before being sold. Not acceptable.
• Black olives: Fully ripe, having reached maximum maturity on the tree. The enzyme has been naturally eliminated. Acceptable in small quantities when unsalted.

Aajonus makes this ripeness distinction absolute. There is no middle ground described, no partially ripe olive that is partially safe. Black is the threshold.

Even when black olives are found, the preparation method is almost always compromised. Aajonus acknowledges that truly finding an unsalted black olive is extraordinarily difficult. He says: "To find an unsalted olive is almost impossible."

The typical commercial processing of black olives involves soaking in salt water or vinegar. He states: "Still they soak them in either salt water or a vinegar that is not good."

This means even black olives, in their commercially available form, carry a secondary contamination problem from the curing medium, not from the enzyme (which is already gone at blackness). His resolution is not to forbid black olives entirely but to restrict their consumption to a small amount, very infrequently, when a craving arises, operating on the premise that the nutrient value occasionally outweighs the minor harm from the salt or vinegar brine.

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Aajonus acknowledges that finding unsalted black olives is "almost impossible." This is not a theoretical complaint but a practical sourcing problem. The overwhelming majority of commercial black olives are processed with salt brines or vinegar solutions that Aajonus considers undesirable.

For contrast and understanding of why sourcing matters, Aajonus describes in detail the commercial treatment process for green olives, which underscores why black naturally-ripened olives are the only acceptable option:

"What they do is run the olives over these needles. And they're very fine needles. And they scratch. They roll them over. And it scratches the entire surface of the olives. Then they spray. Diluted in water. Distilled water. Strychnine in it. So that kills that particular enzyme that can cause you to get very sick."

This mechanical scarification followed by strychnine-water spray is the commercial method used on all green olives. The needle-scratching opens the surface so the strychnine solution can penetrate and neutralize the enzyme. But as Aajonus points out, this means you are then ingesting strychnine along with the olive: "But then you're getting the strychnine with the olive. And a lot of it that's dangerous."

• Look specifically for olives that are described or verified as having been picked at full black ripeness, not treated with strychnine solution
• Look for olives cured without added salt or with minimal salt exposure
• Ideally, source from countries where traditional olive processing is understood at the master level
• Aajonus explicitly states: "To really know that, you need to go to Italy or Greece or Turkey where they're masters at it."

Aajonus emphasizes that processing olives is not a casual home operation: "It's not something that you can just grow some olives in your yard and expect to not get sick from eating them or even pressing the oil out of them. You really have to know what you're doing."

This expert-knowledge requirement applies even to home growers. The danger is real and not mitigated by organic growing conditions alone.

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Aajonus does not specify a mandatory fat-buffer pairing for black olives eaten as whole fruit in the way he does for olive oil. However, the implicit framework throughout his teachings on olives and oils is that any acidic or detoxifying substance should be accompanied by raw fat, particularly butter or cream, to protect the cells and nervous system from irritation.

For black olives consumed as food (five or six at a time), the amounts are small enough that his explicit concern about pairing is not separately elaborated in the source passages. The pairing requirement is extensively developed in the olive oil context rather than the whole black olive context, and is covered in the olive oil discussion.

For context, when discussing olive oil and all pressed oils, he states: "I always recommend that when you have olive oil or flax oil, that you have either cream or butter with it. Because as they start dissolving compounds in your body, you want the other protective fats there to protect the cells and to chelate with those toxins that are released and dissolved."

This principle, while articulated for oil, would logically extend to any olive product given that the underlying mechanism, acidity and detoxification activity, applies across olive-derived foods.

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Aajonus gives a precise limit: "If you have five or six of them once a year, that will handle it."

He also uses the phrase "once in a while" to describe the appropriate frequency of craving and response. The overriding framework is: only eat them when craving them, eat five or six at that time, and that occasional small amount is sufficient to supply whatever nutrient the body is seeking.

He does not describe a protocol for eating more than five or six at a time. There is no situation described in the sources where a larger quantity is recommended.

Aajonus uses the craving mechanism as a self-regulating dosage signal throughout the Primal Diet, and black olives are explicitly framed this way: "But if you crave them once in a while have five or six of them. In some people they have supplied a nutrient that was needed."

The craving is the indication that the body requires the nutrient. Without the craving, there is no identified reason to consume them.

Aajonus's interlocutor in one session raises the point that the craving for olives may be a salt craving rather than an olive craving: "It's usually the salt that is being craved anyway, I find. If it were the olive by itself, I wouldn't be that attracted to it, if it weren't salty."

Aajonus does not directly contradict this observation in the recorded passage, leaving open the possibility that what some people interpret as an olive craving may in fact be a salt craving, though his prior statement affirms that black olives have genuinely supplied needed nutrients in some people, independent of salt content.

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The primary culinary application for black unsalted olives in Aajonus's framework is simply direct consumption, eating five or six whole black olives when the craving arises. There is no elaborated recipe, no blenderizing, no marinating protocol described specifically for black olives as a food.

While Aajonus does not develop recipes featuring whole black olives as a central ingredient, stone-pressed olive oil derived from dark/ripe olives is used throughout his recipe books. The recipes that use stone-pressed olive oil include:

Carpaccio (1 serving): - 5 tablespoons stone-pressed olive oil - 2 tablespoons grated no-salt-added raw cheese - 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh bay leaves - 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil leaves - 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley - 1 slice minced or crushed fresh garlic (optional) - 1 teaspoon chopped fresh red onion (optional) - 5 to 8 ounces meat (beef, lamb, fowl, seafood) - 1 mushroom Vigorously stir olive oil, bay, basil, onion and garlic together for 1 minute. Slice meat thin in food processor. Marinate meat slices in sauce for 1–3 hours at room temperature. Spread meat and sauce on plate, sprinkle with cheese and top with parsley.

Mayonnaise (2 servings): - 4 tablespoons unsalted raw butter - 1 raw fertile egg - 1 tablespoon fresh raw lemon juice - ½ teaspoon unheated honey - ½ teaspoon raw unpasteurized apple cider vinegar - 4 tablespoons stone-pressed olive oil All ingredients room temperature. Blenderize all together in an 8-ounce jar on medium speed until smooth. (Note: Aajonus specifies that when making mayonnaise with olive oil, use lots of butter, "a lot more butter and just a little olive oil", to buffer the acidic detoxification effect of the oil.)

Ceviche (1 serving): - 5–8 ounces fresh ocean wild-caught raw fish - 3–4 ounces fresh lemon or lime juice - ½ to 1 diced fresh tomato - 4–6 tablespoons flax oil, or stone-pressed olive oil - 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro - 1 tablespoon chopped red onion (optional) - 1 slice minced fresh garlic (optional) Dice fish and marinate in lemon or lime juice for 20 minutes to 24 hours. Stir oil, onion and garlic together for 1 minute. Pour off lemon/lime juice from fish. Pour oil mixture over fish. Top with diced tomato.

Thai Ceviche (1 serving): - 5–8 ounces fresh ocean wild-caught raw fish - 4–6 tablespoons fresh lemon or lime juice - 2–4 tablespoons flax oil, or stone-pressed olive oil - 1–2 tablespoons unsalted raw butter - 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint (optional) - 2 tablespoons chopped pickled ginger Dice fish and marinate in lemon or lime juice for 20 minutes or up to 24 hours. Pour off juice. Stir oil, butter, mint, and ginger together.

Italian Sauce (2 servings): - 5 ounces stone-pressed olive oil - 1 tablespoon finely chopped rosemary - 1 tablespoon finely chopped basil - ¼ garlic clove, pressed (optional) Stir all ingredients together in an 8-ounce jar for 1 minute. Cap and let stand in cupboard for at least 3 days. Do not refrigerate at any time. (To flavor a bottle of olive oil: triple the quantities of rosemary, basil and garlic, add to bottle of oil, let stand for at least 3 days.)

Thousand Island Meat-Dressing (1 serving): - 2 ounces cherry tomatoes - 1 tablespoon stone-pressed olive oil - 1 raw egg - 1 tablespoon unsalted raw butter - ½ tablespoon fresh red onion - 1 slice fresh garlic Blenderize all ingredients in an 8-ounce jar on medium speed for 10 seconds.

South African Frikkadel Glaze (1 serving): - 2 ounces pecan halves - 1 egg - 2–4 tablespoons chopped fresh red onion - 1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg - 1 pinch freshly ground coriander seeds - 1 pinch freshly ground mixed peppercorns - 2 ounces meat-fat trimmings or unsalted raw butter - 1 tablespoon stone-pressed olive oil - 2 tablespoons unheated honey Blenderize pecans until flour. Add egg, spices, fat or butter, oil and honey, blenderize on medium speed for 15 seconds. Add sauce to meat, top with chopped red onion.

Ketchup (2 servings): Contains 1 tablespoon stone-pressed olive oil along with 1 tomato, 1 tablespoon unsalted raw butter, 1 teaspoon unheated honey, ½ teaspoon raw apple cider vinegar, and other fresh ingredients.

Oil Preservation of Meat: Aajonus describes using olive oil as a preservation medium for raw meat: "Those in the olive oil stayed. Bacteria doesn't grow in olive oil well. Not at all. So it preserves it." He kept deer meat preserved in olive oil for 10 years, noting it remained in perfect shape with no fermentation, contrasting with coconut oil which fermented.

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The primary derivative relevant to the black olive discussion is stone-pressed or granite-wheel-pressed olive oil made from dark, ripe olives. This is the only form of olive oil Aajonus considers potentially acceptable for consumption.

Why Stone-Pressing from Dark Olives: When olives reach full ripeness (dark/black stage), the strychnine-type enzyme has been naturally eliminated. If those dark olives are then pressed using a granite stone wheel, the oxygenation created by the stone-pressing process destroys any residual enzyme. He states: "Stone press is okay. Even if it's made from green. But you'll see olive oils that are slightly amber. They're that squeeze pressed from dark olives. Ripe olives. And that's okay."

However, he immediately qualifies this: "But most of your olive oil is from green olives that have had strict treatment with strychnine before they're pressed."

Color as Indicator: - Green-colored olive oil: comes from green olives, contains strychnine residue. Avoid. - Amber-colored olive oil: pressed from dark/ripe olives. Potentially acceptable. - "Any of your dark olive oils are not going to have the strychnine in it. Your amber. Any that's green, going to have strychnine in it."

Temperature Requirement for Olive Oil: Olive oil should never be pressed or heated above 96°F. At 96°F and above, it begins causing damage. The virtue of olive oil diminishes if heated above 96°F. Aajonus states: "The olive oils that I have been using have been either stone-pressed or cold-pressed below 80° Fahrenheit. I do not know if the virtues that I have stated throughout the remedy section would diminish if the olive oils were cold-pressed above 80° Fahrenheit yet below 96° Fahrenheit. I do know that the virtues diminish if heated above 96° Fahrenheit."

Brand Recommendation: Aajonus names a specific brand of olive oil he prefers: "I use Oliflix. O-L-I-F-L-I-X. That's my favorite. It's from Portugal." He also confirms that Spectrum's organic, cold-pressed olive oil is acceptable: "It's still good as long as it's the organic, you know, cold-pressed one."

He expresses skepticism about Living Tree Community Foods' California Heritage Olive Oil, noting: "California's olive country is full of pesticides and herbicides, therefore this oil MAY be affected. Is there any type of solution used to help separate the oil from the pulp? Many oil companies claim cold processing, but use solvents and/or separating solutions instead of heat."

What Olive Oil Does in the Body: - Functions primarily as a solvent and detoxifying agent, "The body uses olive oil to cleanse blood and vitalize lungs, soften and then dissolve scar tissue." - Functions as a solvent to dissolve viral compounds: "These pressed oils, the body mainly uses [them as] detoxificants, mainly to dissolve toxicity in the form of virus." - Is highly acidic and can cause nervous system irritation - Can cause excessive detoxification at high quantities, leading to irritability - Is not soothing to the nervous system (unlike coconut oil, which is 25–30% soothing) - Eating citrus fruit or tomato with or immediately after olive oil helps digest it

Olive Oil for Myelin Regeneration: "Eating stone-pressed olive oil, fresh raw fish and red meat or poultry at the same meal daily provides the body with the nutrients it needs to regenerate the myelin." This protocol is used for conditions involving myelin damage, paired with 1 drop of homeopathic quinine up to 5 times daily and up to 4 ounces of unheated honey daily.

Olive Oil Storage: "Olive oil should never be refrigerated." It should be placed in a dark bag and kept in a dark cupboard. This distinguishes it from flax oil and coconut cream, which should always be refrigerated.

Dose Limitation for Olive Oil: "I suggest no more than a tablespoon a day or five tablespoons a week if you're going to have it at one time in one sauce or something like that." Once weekly in a sauce context, not daily.

Oil Pulling with Olive Oil: Aajonus describes oil pulling (swirling in mouth and expectorating) as an application he agrees with for pulling poisons out of the brain: "One of the most frequent uses that I agree with with those oils is like taking olive oil or coconut oil and swirling it around in your mouth. It's called oil pulling. And it helps pull poisons out of your brain. And then you expectorate it. You don't swallow it." He verified this by sending the used (expectorated) oil to a laboratory.

Olive Oil on Skin (Topical): For individuals with good Italian or Latin skin, olive oil can be applied to the face as a skin protector before makeup: "If they have good Italian skin or Latin skin, then they can use olive oil, peanut oil, no problem. They leave that on their face for about twenty minutes and then they put the makeup on after that." Those with very sensitive, light skin should use butter instead.

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Aajonus repeatedly uses the observable temperament of Italian and Greek cultures as empirical evidence of olive oil's effect on the nervous system. This is not a cultural slur in his framing but an attempt to demonstrate the biochemical effect of olive oil consumption at population scale:

"Look at all the countries that live on olive oil. The passion and temperance that they have. The lack of logic that they have. The mafia. The Italian impassionment... The Italians and the Greeks, it's because of all the olive oil. It's an irritating substance that constantly irritates the nervous system and body."

He extends this to a dietary comparison: "Those Italians who live on a farm and are not eating all the olive oil, and eating the butter and milk, they don't react like that. They're very calm people."

And: "There's nobody that consumes more olive oil than the Italian community."

He even makes a personal statement connecting olive oil-fueled irritability to antisocial behavior: "What do you think that's gonna do to the nervous system. I'd be out killing people too. I'd be out being a mafia guy too."

The strychnine needle-scratch-and-spray method is described as an established commercial practice, not a modern aberration. This was the standard processing method for green olives across the industry. The involvement of political and commercial interests in promoting olive oil over butter is described directly:

"The politicians of the time were getting kickbacks from the olive groves to make it an issue. So they were talking about olive oil has a high labial point. You can cook with olive oil and be healthier than cooking with butter, anything like that. It was all hogwash. It was a lie. But there was money there. Money for the special few that were in Tavern Authority to start this."

He compares this to the margarine-over-butter campaign: "Just like margarine is good, butter is bad. That whole era of hogwash."

Aajonus identifies a systemic olive oil supply fraud: "There are enough olive groves in the world to feed maybe 30 million people. So now they're taking olive oil and they're mixing it with either not even a vegetable oil, usually using mineral oils or oils made from petroleum. They clarify it and then hydrogenate it. So you're eating hydrogenated oils, even though you're eating the olive oil not to eat hydrogenated oils. Plastic oils. It's a trap."

He notes the supply math: "If they had allowed all of the olive groves to flourish in Greece and Italy, you would still only be producing enough for 30 million people a year. That would be two quarts a year."

A documented historical record is cited in the recipe book: "In WWI, a Russian general recorded in his log that 3 months after his troops exhausted the raw butter supply and resorted to consuming olive oil, the men's hair, nails and skin dried. The log stated that several weeks after they were able to obtain raw dairy again, the men's hair, nails and skin became supple and moist."

This documented observation is used as evidence that olive oil cannot substitute for raw butter in its skin-nourishing functions, it dries the body rather than lubricating it.

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