Leucocarpa, also called Leucolea, is an olive variety characterized by small fruits which, during ripening, take on an ivory-white color. Mainly widespread in the regions of southern Italy, with a strong presence in Calabria, it was probably introduced during Magna Graecia’s colonization.(Magna Graecia -Great Greece refers to the coastal areas of southern Italy which were colonized by various ancient Greek city-states)

“Due to the white color of fruits, which in western culture symbolizes purity, it ended up being used mainly for religious purposes.”

The white olive is just one of hundreds of varieties of the European olive (Olea europaea) found from Portugal east across the Mediterranean all the way to the Arabian Peninsula. One of its botanical subclassifications is Leucocarpa, from the Greek leukos (white) and karpos (flesh or pulp). White olives also grow in Italy, Morocco, Libya, Greece and Portugal, where they often go by local names, including bianca (in Italian “white”), biancolilla or cannellina (after their resemblance to white cannellini beans). Researchers who have studied the white olive’s genetics say that its unique color, or lack thereof, is simply a quirk of nature

“White olives originate from mutations affecting the production of anthocyanins, those pigments typical of what you see in conventional ripened olives, so that at the full ripening stage they do not become black,” explained Antonella Pasqualone, professor of food science and technology at the University of Bari in southern Italy. The white olives, she added, “are not very diffused and are normally rare.”