Star Manzanilla Olives

Yes, Star Manzanilla olives are high in histamine. Green olives like these are cured and brined before packing, and that curing process is exactly the kind of slow microbial work that lets histamine build up.

Why star manzanilla olives is rated high

Olives cannot be eaten straight off the tree, so they go through a curing and brining process to remove bitterness, and the label here even lists lactic acid, a signature of the bacterial fermentation and brine handling olives typically get. That microbial activity in the brine over time is what pushes histamine up, so these sit firmly in the high range no matter how fresh the jar looks or how recently you opened it.

What changes your risk

• Curing and brining — this is the core reason. The weeks of brine curing that make olives edible are also where histamine accumulates, and nothing you do at home reverses that.
• Opening won't help — the histamine is already in the olive and the brine by the time it reaches you, so a fresh jar is no lower than an older one.
• Rinsing — draining and rinsing off the brine may cut some surface salt and liquid, but it does not remove histamine that has soaked into the flesh.
• Leftovers in an opened jar — once opened and sitting in brine in the fridge, an already-fermented food like this can keep changing, so long-kept opened jars are not a lower-risk option.
• Cooking them in — tossing olives into a warm dish does not lower their histamine; heat kills bacteria but leaves the histamine that already formed.

Lower-histamine alternatives

There isn't a truly low-histamine version of a cured olive, so the honest move is to skip olives when you need a low-histamine plate and reach for something genuinely different. For that salty, savory bite in salads or pasta, try capers-free options like fresh cucumber slices, thin rounds of fresh red or yellow bell pepper, or a scatter of fresh herbs and a drizzle of olive oil (the oil itself is fine). For a briny snack feeling, fresh vegetable sticks with a little salt do the job without the cured-food problem.

How to lower the risk

If you're cooking for a mixed table and want to keep olives out of your own portion, plate yours before the olives go in, since even a small amount of brine can spread through a dish. When you're shopping for yourself, the simplest approach is to treat all jarred and brined olives, green or black, as off the low-histamine list and build your antipasto around fresh vegetables and olive oil instead. Store any olives you buy for others sealed and separate so their brine doesn't season shared food.

Common questions

Are green Manzanilla olives lower in histamine than black olives?

No, you can't count on that. Both green and black table olives are cured and brined, and that curing is the histamine driver regardless of color.

Does rinsing the brine off make these olives safe?

Rinsing removes some salt and surface liquid but not the histamine that has already soaked into the olive flesh, so they stay high.

Are olives in oil instead of brine any better?

Not reliably. Olives packed in oil were still cured first, and that curing step is where the histamine formed, so the packing liquid doesn't change the underlying issue.

Can I cook these into a sauce to reduce the histamine?

No. Cooking can kill bacteria but it does not break down histamine that already formed during curing, so a cooked dish with olives is still high.