It's Olive time!

Well, here we are and it's late April.

If your Olives are green still you can pickle them.

Green Olives

The best for olives under brine are the Manzanello, Verdale , Frantoio and the green Spanish Queen . The large Kalamata are great also .

The Manzanello , Verdale and Frantoio are great for pickling in Brine whole. The Kalamata have to be sliced 2-3 times to accelerate the pickling and the Spanish Queen are best for pickling in Caustic Soda .

The fotos are of our Frantoio and Verdale olives, I did them crushed (see "olive sciacciate") and in brine (see "olive in salamoia.")

I also made some kalamata (our first) as per the "Olives in garlic and chilli under oil" .

 

Note that I put a slice of lemon on top.

This does 2 things, it acidifies the brine to keep the olives hard and also it stops the olives floating to the top so that they don't go brown and soft if they come into contact with air. Also I put a 1/2 cm layer of oil on top.

Black Olives.

The best for this method are again the Manzanaello, Verdale and the larger Frantoio. The Spanish Queen are too watery for this process.

These are dead easy to make. Just wash the olives and cover in salt (see my Mothers recipe for black olives)

Then place a weight on them of approx 5-10 kg. Each day agitate for approx 6-7 days. They will produce a dark brine that is frothy. This is fine. All olives ferment as part of the pickling process and convert the sugars to Lactic acid.

After this drain and place on a table to dry for 1 day. Then cover with a splash of EVOO and place in vacuum bags. Some people freeze the olives, others cover them in oil (I find that this makes the lives too "heavy")

Comments

[Steve Sparaco]

I have a couple of more days until my olives are ready to be canned. everything i have research states the olives will last only 2-4 months in a salt brine. How can i perserve them longer than 4 months and how long will they last without going bad on the shelf?

[pietro]

Hi Steve
To make the olives last ,more than a few months , you need to ensure that they do not form a mould on top.
You do this when you initially put them in brine by
1. Boiling the water and salt solution to sterize it
2. by adding acid ie a slice of lemon
3. adding a layer of oil to exclude the air
or
4. by closing the jars firmly as directed in the book

also once you open the jars ,, keep in the fridge

Taske care

Pietro

[les]

hi olive lovers,,, you can imagine how surprised i was after i moved to the wimmers to find an OLIVE TREE in my garden ,, now this year its about 10ft. tall and very bushy .and heaps of tiny little green olives promising to grow... this year the bush is covered with them ,,and as i always enjoy mixed olives from my local iga. with a shiraz. i,m keen to try bottling my own..just to see if i can do it

[susan]

dear Pietro I followed your recipe in the book for (black) olives in brine page 88..they're ready now to be decanted but they have mould on top. can i scoop off the mould and put them in the vinegar and then in olive oil, or do I have to discard them all? thanks - and I noted here that you talked about using a piece of lemon - only for green olives? i used virgin plastic buckets with lids rather than glass jars. mistake? thanks for your comments.

[ClubPenguinCheats]

Each day agitate for approx 6-7 days. They will produce a dark brine that is frothy.