The Worst Jarred Olives We've Ever Tasted Are A Big Store Brand

If there's one thing you should always keep in your pantry, it's a jar of olives. Whether you're using them on a charcuterie board or eating them straight from the jar (guilty), jarred olives are a delicious and versatile snack to have on hand at all times (they're also fantastic in a pasta recipe alongside sun-dried tomatoes and feta). However, there's one type of jarred olive that you should definitely pass on, and it comes from an extremely popular brand.

At Daily Meal, we know our olives. After all, we sat down and tried 18 of the most popular jarred olives to find the best on the market. And while the Mezzetta Whole Italian Castelvetrano Olives reigned supreme at the top of our list, a popular big-store brand fell to the bottom. Unfortunately, the Great Value Blue Cheese Stuffed Green Olives just don't hold up against others in terms of taste, texture, and (strangely enough) odor. Yup, that's right — odor.

Great Value is a private-label brand owned by Walmart. Launched in 1993, Great Value is the company's most developed retail brand, creating various products from light bulbs to cinnamon rolls (and it's also true that not all of Great Value's foods are healthy). So, it shouldn't come as a shock to know that Great Value has a variety of olives. According to our ranking, one jarred olive from the brand, the Feta Cheese Stuffed Green Olives, actually wasn't too bad — but we can't say the same for the Blue Cheese Stuffed Green Olives.

In terms of texture, the olives were a bit mushy — not firm and crisp like the typical olive. Oh, and for an olive that's supposed to be pitted and stuffed, many customers have noted inconsistencies. "While I've never been a fan, my boyfriend usually loves these," one user wrote on the Walmart website. "He didn't like this particular brand at all. Bad tasting, one still had part of a pit inside. He would never buy these again."

The real downfall of this jarred olive is the taste, though. While blue cheese is a notoriously pungent cheese that can elevate any dish (including mac and cheese), the flavor isn't rotten or putrid — well, except for the cheese in these olives. Not only that, but the brine is incredibly salty and inherits that spoiled cheese taste from the stuffing. On the Walmart website, where they're rated a 3.5 out of 5 stars, one user wrote "Hard pass. Tastes bad, gets murky."

By far the worst part of these olives is the smell. As soon as you open the jar, you're met with a whiff of sour cheese and brine — not exactly a scent you'd want in a candle. While good olives have a brine-y smell, their aroma is relatively fresh and enticing. These olives, however, smell pretty foul to the point where it's overpowering. And while, yes, it could be a bad batch, it's not a jar we'd reach for again at any point.

But it's not just us. On the Walmart website, consumers also aren't pleased with the smell of these olives. One customer even rated the Blue Cheese Stuffed Olives with one star, writing, "There is something really really wrong with these olives, the smell is so bad and I had to spit them out. If I could leave less than 1 star I would. DO NOT BUY." Yikes.