Amurca
Amurca is the Latin name for the bitter-tasting, dark-colored, watery sediment that settles out of unfiltered olive oil over time. It has been known in English as "olive oil lees"[1] and recently as "olive mill waste water (OMWW)".[2] Historically, amurca was used for numerous purposes, as first described by Cato the Elder in De Agri Cultura, and later by Pliny the Elder.[3] Cato the Elder mentions its uses as a building material, pesticide, herbicide, dietary supplement for oxen and trees, food preservative, a maintenance product for leather, bronze vessel, and vases, and as a treatment for firewood in order to avoid smoke.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ Sana Janakat et al., "Antimicrobial activity of amurca (olive oil lees) extract against selected foodborne pathogens" in Food Science and Technology [Campinas] vol. 35 (2015) pp. 259-265
- ^ Jose Antonio Morillo-Pérez et al., "Bioremediation and biovalorisation of olive-mill wastes" in Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology vol. 82 (2009) pp. 25-39; Giulia Crouch, "‘Nonna Caterina was right’: olive oil wastewater heralded as new superfood" in The Guardian (24 August 2024)
- ^ Pliny, John Bostock; Henry Thomas Riley (1856). The Natural History of Pliny: Amurca of Olives – Twenty-one Remedies. p. 486.
- ^ Hooper, William Davis (1934). Cato and Varro on Agriculture. Harvard University Press: Loeb Classical Library. p. 36, 91, 92, 93, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 103, 128, 129, 130. ISBN 9780674993136.
{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
External links
[edit]- Cato the Elder on Agriculture
- Olives in Antiquity (Smith's Dictionary, 1875)
- Forerunners of Pesticides in Classical Greece and Rome
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chambers, Ephraim, ed. (1728). "Amurca". Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1st ed.). James and John Knapton, et al.
| Cultivars | |
|---|---|
| Topics | |
| By country | |
 | This pharmacology-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This toxicology-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |