Amurca

 ( Toxicology ) 

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"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 and recently as "olive mill waste water (OMWW)".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) Historically, amurca was used for numerous purposes, as first described by Cato the Elder in De Agri Cultura, and later by Pliny the Elder. Cato the Elder mentions its uses as a construction material, pesticide, herbicide, dietary supplement for oxen and trees, food preservative, a maintenance product for leather, bronze vessel, and vase, and as a treatment for firewood in order to avoid smoke.

• Cato the Elder on Agriculture
• Olives in Antiquity (Smith's Dictionary, 1875)
• Forerunners of Pesticides in Classical Greece and Rome