From: atwater@labmed.ucsf.EDU (Susan Atwater) Thanks again for all your help, and the articles you've sent. I haven't yet found the time to collect another batch of olives, but when I do I'll put them in brine for a few weeks, and let you know the result. Susan Atwater Editor: So far I don't think anybody has outlined the process of brine curing, especially as it pertains to curing olives. I would take a crack at it, but I don't have any experience. First I would like to know which, if any, spices are used in the brine for olives? I know that sometimes vinegar is used, especially for green olives, and sometimes not. I think the steps might go something like this, keeping in mind this is a guess based on cucumber pickles, and I am not real likely to get that close for olives, so I will state things in terms of *vegtables*. I get this information from "Pickles & Relishes", by Andrea Chesman, A Garden Way Publishing Book, 1983. ISBN 0-88266-321-6 see pp. 28-39, 68-71, 113. The rest of the book is dedicated to conventional pickle making. (Or I should say non-zymo or non-cultured pickle making.) I am using the outline from p. 30-32, but it is almost all my own words and commentary. I recomend the book. 1 First wash the *vegtables*. Do not use HOT water, as we don't want to kill micro-organisms. Warm water is fine. 2 Weigh the *vegtables*. (Used to calculate how much salt to use. The book says this is important, but I don't see how as none of the recipes use the calculation.) 3 Wash the crock (it can be a 5 gal plastic bucket) with hot soapy water. Rinse and scald with boiling water. Dry. 4 Prepare the brine. (this will vary by the recipe. You want the brine to be 2.5% salt. The book doesn't say % by weight or what, but in another place it indicates that 1 1/2 tablespoons of granulated pickling salt to each quart of water should do the job. p. 38.) Table salt might color the pickles. (Ok no worry with olives.) In some recipes this will include vinegar. The recipes for sauerkraut don't call for any vinegar, does the lactobacilli provide all that sourness? The recipe on p. 68 for fermented dills does not call for any vinegar. The recipe on p. 71 for cured dills calls for 2 cups white vinegar for 2 gallons of water. The recipe on p. 113 for green tomato crock pickles calls for 2 cups of vinegar for 2 gallons of water. Most recipes, but not all, recomend bringing the water to a boil to add the salt. (and vinegar? I would want to avoid boiling off the vinegar, so I might add it after the brine cools?) They say to do this to kill any micro-organisms in the water to give the lactobacilli on the *vegetables* a better chance at taking over. We must note that curing in not a steril process like canning, but one where we are trying to use a live culture like in sourdough. Mix the salt into the hot water. The brine must cool before use or it will kill any lactobacilli on the *vegtables*. With the sauerkraut recipes you don't add any brine, but just mix salt with the sliced cabbage and weigh it down. Beverly Erlebacher has recently submitted an excelent recipe/directions for making sauerkraut, so I won't go into that. PACK THE CROCK 5 Loading the crock varies according to the recipe. Dill pickles are often packed in layers with layers of dill and spices between the rows of cucumbers. One recipe calls for laying the small cucumbers on the bottom so that they don't float as easily to the top. I suppose olives could just be packed free-form. 6 Pour (cooled) brine over the *vegetables*. Use enough brine to cover the *vegetables*. 7 Place a large inverted plate over the vegetables and put a weight on it to hold the vegetables under the water. CURING THE PICKLES 8 The curing process (lacto-bacterial fermentation) should begin in a few days. If you want the pickles to be half sour, or not as sour as fully cured pickles you can taste them every so often, and decide to stop the process. 9 Every day you should remove the scum that forms on the top of the brine. 10 Every day you should tap the sides of the crock gently to see if bubbles rise. This indicates that fermentation continues. Fermentation will stop sometime between two and four weeks. 11 Pickles should be stored in the fridge, or in some place just as cold. For long term storage they should be canned. Pack the pickles into freshly cleaned canning jars. The brine should be strained and boiled. (You might use fresh brine, but then there are reasons for not doing this. I would think that the brine has leached some of the flavor out of the pickles and you don't want to do it again. If you are pickling jalepen~os you will lose alot of the hot it you pour the brine down the drain.) Pour the brine over the pickles in the jars, and seal the jars. You can process them in a steam canner for 15 minutes. Here are some of the spices indicated in some of the recipes for two gallons of brine Fermented Dills p. 70 8 teaspoons mustard seeds 40 cloves garlic 8 tablespoons dill seeds This recipe indicates that these spices can be added if you wish at the canning stage. I think I would pickle the spices. Cured Dills p. 71 Line the bottom of the crock with grape leaves and dill leaves and sprinkle it with mixed pickling spices. Repeat this between the layers of cucumbers. Green Tomato Crock Pickles p. 113 Same as above, but without the grape leaves.