Lucques Olives.

I mentioned a couple of days ago about eating Lucques olives whilst drinking Champagne, and I've since received a few quizzical looks.

Lucques are a very particular olive. They are almost exclusively grown for eating, rather than for oil. They are bright green, longish, meaty, and sweet. They have firm flesh, and a deceptively large interior pip. It is claimed that they are the world's finest olive (well, their growers would say that, wouldn't they).

Sadly we don't live in an olive growing region, so our Lucques are imported from further down south. They are grown mostly in the Herault department, in the Languedoc; however, they're now to be found in southern French markets everywhere.

Try them (if you can find them); I think you'll be quite impressed, and their growers will be happy.