Costco Customer Buys a Jar of Olives From The Store and Tastes One of Them: ‘I’m So Scared...’

When a young olive is plucked from the branch of a tree, its smooth ovoid body is firm, supple, and green. But as it ripens and matures, the tart-flavored oval becomes overshadowed by darker tones, ranging from dark purple to black. And even though an olive tree is nicknamed the “tree of eternity,” per Delallo, ripening often causes the stiff flesh of olives to go tender. While these purplish grown-ups can always be crushed to make lamp oil, they cannot possibly make their way into the shopping baskets of those who are expecting to sprinkle them in a bowl of pasta, salad, a piping hot pizza, a cheese platter, or a charcuterie plate.

Over months, as a young green olive grows up and is fermented in salt water, its taste doesn’t remain same as it was when it was still an infant. Recently, a woman named Isabella (@maisonisabella) bought a jar of olives from Costco and was disappointed to discover that the olives packed in the jar were too mature and acidic, and she felt panicked soon after she ate one. “Am I gonna get botulism?” the horrified woman exclaimed in the video’s overlay caption.

The video opens with Isabella seated on a chair with a jar of Costco’s Tassos Greek Olive Medley sitting in front of her at about 11 at night. “I got this big jar of olives from Costco, and I haven't tried most of them yet. So let's do it cause I've been craving a salty snack,” she tells the viewers. “This one is the garlic and pimento stuffed,” she says while pulling out an olive from the jar with a pair of chopsticks. She pops the olive into her mouth and chews it for a while, sensing and reflecting upon the taste. Suddenly, she stops chewing it. With a serious look on her face, she stares at the camera and then slips away as if to spit the fruit.   

“Non-human,” she exclaims with a grunting expression. “Can olives go bad? I just got this. It was tasting very, like acidic. […] I’m so scared right now,” she says. She then picked up another olive from the jar, this one being “jalapeno stuffed.” She again walked away from the camera to spit out the olive. “It's like it's literally burning my tongue,” Isabella reported. She went on to taste another olive, flavored with “garlic,” and had to spit it out just like the previous ones. Disappointed, she grumbled cynically, “You know, I’m okay. […] Like hazardous,” and wrapped up the video.

Typically, jarred olives can remain fresh for up to two years, given that they are unopened, but once opened, they will last only around 12 to 18 months, according to Epicurious. However, it’s the process of canning olives that determines how suited they will be for eating once they reach the customer’s table. In 1919, Smithsonian Magazine explains, a batch of poorly canned olives ended up triggering a series of botulism outbreaks in the customers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explains that the low-oxygen environment of a poorly jarred olive causes the deadly bacteria Clostridium botulinum to propagate rapidly. When consumed via an olive, the bacteria attacks the body with symptoms like muscle paralysis and sometimes death.

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