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It is/was that time of year again! Olives season. If you are fortunate enough to live in a region where they grow, you owe it to yourself to give curing your own a try. While there are many many methods and recipes you need not be intimidated.
I've been curing olives for quite a few years and have run the range of lye cures, salt box cures and various brines. After a number of variations I find that I'm happiest just using salt and patience. It doesn't get more simple than this but it does take some effort in the beginning and a lot of patience as they cure.
By not using more complicated cures I can wait to decide what to flavor them with and marinate them with herbs, oil and other things like garlic or peppers in small batches to suit whatever mood I'm in at the time. Though most often we simply eat them as they are from the basic brine.
If you don't live near an olive area you can order raw olives online. They range broadly in price.
I arrange ahead with an oil producer who is kind enough to sell me olives from his orchard. I get them for about $2 a pound. In past years even curing 4-6 pounds has left us buying olives by the end of the year. This year I'm putting up about 8 or 10 pounds.
I try to plan ahead as best I can and understand that the olives I put up today will be the ones we are eating the following year. Once you get in the habit it's pretty simple and makes for a nice seasonal family tradition.
I've been curing olives for quite a few years and have run the range of lye cures, salt box cures and various brines. After a number of variations I find that I'm happiest just using salt and patience. It doesn't get more simple than this but it does take some effort in the beginning and a lot of patience as they cure.
By not using more complicated cures I can wait to decide what to flavor them with and marinate them with herbs, oil and other things like garlic or peppers in small batches to suit whatever mood I'm in at the time. Though most often we simply eat them as they are from the basic brine.
If you don't live near an olive area you can order raw olives online. They range broadly in price.
I arrange ahead with an oil producer who is kind enough to sell me olives from his orchard. I get them for about $2 a pound. In past years even curing 4-6 pounds has left us buying olives by the end of the year. This year I'm putting up about 8 or 10 pounds.
I try to plan ahead as best I can and understand that the olives I put up today will be the ones we are eating the following year. Once you get in the habit it's pretty simple and makes for a nice seasonal family tradition.
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Signing UpStep 1What you'll need
Olives! This is the hard part. Your best bet is to either make friends with an olive grower or find them in a market. Some farmers markets will have them and occasionally groceries that carry more exotic and organic foods will carry them. You could also gather your own but I've found that most time I've gone this route the olives have been full of worms. As noted before you can also track them down online.
Salt! Any non-iodized salt will do. I don't know that you couldn't use iodized salt but every person and recipe I have seen or talked to has warned against it. Easy enough to just get non-iodized. I like kosher salt. The important thing is that it dissolves well in water. So, something like a corse sea salt will be fine but take more time. It's up to you.
Jars. Any glass jar you can seal will work. I used wide mouth jars in the past but eventually found I prefer glass milk bottles. The narrower neck makes it easier to keep any floating olives in the brine and we have a steady supply of them as we buy milk in glass bottles. You can use canning jars, apothecary jars or big decanters with bales on them. Whatever works for you. In my case I find a two pound bag of olives fits well in a 64oz/1.87 liter bottle.
Water
A way to heat the water
A spoon
An uncooked egg
A small sharp knife
A large bowl
Salt! Any non-iodized salt will do. I don't know that you couldn't use iodized salt but every person and recipe I have seen or talked to has warned against it. Easy enough to just get non-iodized. I like kosher salt. The important thing is that it dissolves well in water. So, something like a corse sea salt will be fine but take more time. It's up to you.
Jars. Any glass jar you can seal will work. I used wide mouth jars in the past but eventually found I prefer glass milk bottles. The narrower neck makes it easier to keep any floating olives in the brine and we have a steady supply of them as we buy milk in glass bottles. You can use canning jars, apothecary jars or big decanters with bales on them. Whatever works for you. In my case I find a two pound bag of olives fits well in a 64oz/1.87 liter bottle.
Water
A way to heat the water
A spoon
An uncooked egg
A small sharp knife
A large bowl
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The first and most important thing is that there are hundreds of different types of olive trees.Each olive type tastes different.Also the time of the harvest is very important,sooner you get greens that are bitter,later you get red or black that are 'swetter'.
So it has to be cured in a different way.
So the best thing you have to do is to know what olives you have,and cure them properly.
You can smash or cut the olives(there a special equipment doing it that costs 5-10 euros).If you do that,you will speed the curing period very much.Especially for the green olives.But they wll not last for a long period.And the bad thing about cutting is that the olives are getting 'juicer'.Lot of people don't like that.
If you use salted water when you 'de-sour' them,they will become more tight and they will get saltier taste.If you use plain water they will become juicy and they will have less saltier taste.The time for the curing depends on the type and the time of the harvest.Some needs only a week with daily change of water some may need 3 months.Always try and taste them.You will know when they are ready.
You can preserve them in olive oil,in vinegar or salted water with almost any seasoning you like.Only remember if you try vinegar or salted water,add a little olive oil in the top,because they will rot elseway those that react with the air.
The easiest way for me for making olives is the burlap sack way.
You get some black olives,you put them in a burlap sack and add salt.You shake the burlap,and you hang it with a bowl underneath it for 2-4 weeks.You remove the salt,put them in a bowl,add some olive oil an oregano and they are ready.
Last thing,if you don't own an olive tree and you buy the olives try to buy biological or olives that are from high altitute.The reason is that (al least in Medditeranean)there is a little fly that nest its eggs inside the olives.So the olive tree's farmers spray the olives.The most pesticides for killing those flys are very toxic if there is not enough time from the spray till the harvest time.
First of all, i'm happy to hear of people making olives ( that are not in close reach)
I live in a place ( Israel) surrounded by olive trees / for the past few years i;ve been making big batches of Olives..
I have a few things that might make your olives safer,tastier and faster..
First of all, the common way in which we make them is to break them ( or cut them) an then soak them in water for a few days, changing the water freaquently ( at least twice a day) - you will see why, the water changes its color and smells olivy..
second of all , the jar that you put the olives in, i pour boiling water in befor putting the well rinsed olives in. following by putting layers of olives- lemon/garlic cloves/ black pepper, whatever you wish.. and more olives.. layering the stuff in between..
Third and most important..
after putting the olives in their salty water, most important is to pour oil above all of it, to prevent oxygen entering inside, this makes everythign safer ..
what else with this will be,not to fill the bottle... opening the bottle after about a week - there will be a lot of pressure inside waiting to burst..
i do'nt refrigirate my olives.. i leave them standing for about two monthes and then they are ready ..
Good luck!
I red a lot on this on italian sites and I think that many old traditional advices on the subject are nearly mere local superstition or chat and you can see it by the absence of a precise concordance and the almost absence of analysis of the problem.
Yes Tariast, I don't know about this recipe but when I am finished I put these olives in jars with oil, vinegar inions and several seasonings like oregano and celery, salt and pepper. I have never been afraid of bolutlism after 20 years I don't think that really is a problem especially since we made them for many years in our hot kitchen in late summer with no A/C
I recently moved the jars from the fridge to a cool pantry that was predictably not as cold at the refrigerator and it seems to have allowed the olives to cure a bit more and "better". The warming up seems to have allowed them to lose the last of their bitterness and so far I'm not sick and they show no signs of going off.
I am enjoying your tutorial, thanks
I cured olives for the first time this year. Didn't know about cracking them. That was helpful. If you don't crack or slit the olives, getting all the bitter flavor out takes much longer.
I also tried lye curing. That goes much faster than brine curing, but the flavor is much blander than that of brine cured olives.
Someone else has already alluded to this, but one of the things that happens when you put vegetables in salt water is that lactic acid fermentation starts. This produces CO2 hence bubble and pressure in a closed jar. Lactic acid fermentation also produces the interesting flavors. If the curing of olives is anything like the curing of cucumbers or cabbage, then temperature affects the balance of flavors. Lower temperatures, like around 50 degrees F produce more complex flavors.
The other thing I noticed when researching the topic on the internet is that after the cure, that is, once the bitter flavor is gone from the olives, people have all sorts of recipes for flavoring the olives with various blends of vinegar, salt, oregano, lemons and so on. This adds yet another layer of complexity to the process and to the flavor.
One of the reasons I like using milk bottles is they don't seal all that tight. This allows the co2 to escape. Aside from pressure build up in the jar you can also end up with carbonated olives. Funny but not very nice to eat.
I use food save 5 gallon buckets or stainless steel containers and I soak them in water for at least 4 months and change the water very day. When the water starts to get clear is when I brine them. I taste test them for bitterness and then I brine them and do it for a couple of weeks and test test again and if it is to salty I reduce the concentration of brine to my taste. I change the brine once a week. Then I add all the oils herbs and brine.
I hadn't heard of Russian olives but Wikipedia says they're an edible sweet fruit! Sounds like something to check out. :)
if you took same idea added small cukes and handul dill and head of smashed garlic and a big pinch of red pepper(optional), you get Kosher Dill GArlic Pickles hmmm. Hot weather 3 days, cool weather, (or in fridge), 2 weeks very yummy add a piece of real rye bread to make them greener.
refrigeration is not required, as long as they are well salted. There is a word in Sicialian that sorta means wack with a heavy wine bottle (empty, sigh ;-( ) and I can barely say, let alone spell. It is how we prepped olives after being brined. If you do it before brining it goes faster. Little old Eyetalian ladies in Brooklyn explained to me the soak in water trick changing daily (two times, per day, minimum) or salt brine and change a couple times per week..
If you marinate them, they must be refrigerated to below 50 degrees for botchulism safety. If you leave them in a last clean batch of salt water you can leave them be, like pickles, (that is right from the old ladies not me). Adding Cinnomim bay leaves hot pepper flakes cumin/corrinader cilantro parsley garlic oregano etc to a mixture and letting them sit in it (with salted water) will flavor them, then rinse off a week before you want them and add oil and more herbs
this is a greta instructable..thanks
sparkie
What are the varieties one might be likely to find in California? Florida? Elsewhere in the US? Who brought them here? Why, for fruit or for oil?
Just wondering---if you know any good books or sources of information I'd be fascinated to take some time and learn.
By the way, what happens if you eat an uncured olive?
I've seen trees all over the southwest but couldn't say beyond that. The trees were likely brought here by immigrants for both fruit and oil.
I'm sure there are many books on the subject but I've not run across any. If you dig around on the web you can find information though. I've gotten the best information directly from olive growers, either in person or over the phone.
Uncured olives are completely inedible! They contain an incredibly bitter chemical. No amount of cooking, flavoring or salting will make them fit to eat. You can cure them any number of ways but you have to cure them.
This wiki article on them is pretty good. You might start there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive#Traditional_fermentation_and_curing