Where to eat Olive Lucques du Languedoc in Montpellier: 3 editor picks

A green olive shaped like a crescent moon, pointed at one end, with firm buttery flesh and almost no bitterness. It is picked young, cured in brine and eaten as an aperitif rather than pressed for oil.

The Lucques is grown almost entirely in the Hérault and the Aude and takes its name, most sources agree, from the Italian city of Lucca. It has AOP status as Lucques du Languedoc. The curve is natural rather than a processing artefact, and the stone lifts cleanly out, which is why it is the olive of choice for a table bowl. Picking happens in September and October and the fruit is cured quickly in weak brine so the flesh stays pale green and the flavour stays sweet. In Montpellier it turns up automatically with a glass of Picpoul, salted almonds alongside, before anyone has ordered anything.