Subject: Re: Curing Olives
From: [email-masked] (Dave)
Date: 22 Jun 94 22:47:29 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.agriculture.fruit

[email-masked] ([email-masked]) wrote:
> Does anyone have a recipe/directions for curing green olives.  I also
> need directions for when to pick them off my tree.  Thanks for your 
> help.
> Dave C. South Pasadena, Ca <[email-masked]>

I picked and cured my olives for the first time last year.  I enjoyed the
whole experience as well as the delicious olives.  I picked my olives in
early October, but in general, the fruits are ready for harvest in
September.  The earlier you pick, the more green olives you'll get and the
later you pick, the more black (ripe) olives you'll get. 

I have three methods of curing olives which I got from the LA Times. 
Apparently it is an old Sicilian family (Garro family) recipe... the
recipes follow (lifted right out of the article): 

1. WATER-CURED OLIVES

Take 2 1/2 gallons of beautiful, absolutely fresh, crunchy green olives.  
Crack each olive with a stone [I took a sharp knive and slit my olives].  
Put them in a 5-gallon plastic container and cover thoroughly with 
water.  Put a plate and a rock on top of them - otherwise the olives will 
float.  Change the water every day.  Don't feel too guilty if you miss a 
day here or there.  After 3 1/2 to 4 weeks, taste the olives to see if all 
the bitterness has leached out.  Dry olives over night spread out on the 
top of a table, then put them in a big mixing bowl.

Chop 2 big bunches of mint.  Peel and finely chop 2 heads of garlic.  Mix 
this into the olives.  Add 3 cups of extra-virgin olive oil, 1 cup of 
good wine vinegar and salt to taste.  Leave the olives in the bowl and 
stir them every day for 3 to 4 days.  Then, put them into jars and cover 
them thoroughly with olive oil.  Store these olives in the refrigerator, 
but serve at room temperature.  They should be eaten within 2 months.

2. BRINE-CURED OLIVES

Take 2 1/2 gallons of fresh olives just as they're turning from green to 
red.  Make a solution of salt water to cover - 2 gallons of water per 1 
pound of salt - in a crock.  Or you can put a raw egg (still in its 
shell) in a pail of water and add salt until the egg floats to the 
surface; then you'll have the right amount of salt.  Make certain that 
the olives are completely submerged in this brine.  Place a plate 
weighted with a rock on top to discourage them from floating.

Once the olives are in the brine, go out and pick the stems and branches 
of wild fennel.  Chop the fennel and add to the brine [I didn't use the 
fennel because I couldn't get any, but probably a big handful might be 
enough].

After a month or so, when you have time, go to a farmers market and buy 
some good hot fresh peppers, red and green.  Add 2 to 4 peppers per 
5-gallon crock - 10 if you really lik heat.  [Don't be surprised if you 
find mold growing on the surface of the brine.  Just skim off the mold 
with a strainer.]

After 2 months, add 10 heads of garlic, the individual cloves peeled.

After 4 months, change the water and tast the olives.  If they are really 
bitter, reduce the salt amount by 1/3.

After 6 months, change the water again.  This time, the water should be 
just a little bit salty, "palatably salty," Garro says.  More salt will 
leach out of the olives themselves.  Leave the olives in this brine to be 
consumed as you go along.  these olives will last up to a year and a half.

3. SALT-CURED "GREEK" OLIVES

Use 2 1/2 to 3 gallons fresh ripe black olives.  Pierce each olive with a 
fork.  In a chinese laundry basket or any unvarnished cylindrical basket, 
approximately 20 inches tall, make layers of rock salt and olives.  set 
the basket on a brick placed in a plastic tub, to catch the juice.  
Weigh the olives with a plate and a big, heavy rock.  every 3 days, 
empty the olives out and, using the same salt and the same basket, repack 
them.  You may need to add more salt from time to time.  This is done so 
mold does not develop.  after 3 to 4 weeks, when all the bitterness has 
leached out of them, wash the olives and dry them out very well.

In a large frying pan, mix 1 cup of oil, 2 tablespoons fennel seeds, 1 
3/4 cup finely slivered orange peel, a few squeezes of orange juice, 3 to 
4 tablespoons of wine vinegar and 2 to 3 heads of garlic, peeled and 
finely chopped.  Add the olives and heat them up until you can hear the 
oil snapping.  Stir for just a few minutes until everything is warmed and 
well coated.  Empty the contents of the frying pan into a large ceramic 
crock, cover with olive oil and stir every 3 or 4 days.  It's a good idea 
to keep these olives refrigerated, but be sure to serve at room temperature.
[I have used a different serving recipe...toss the black olives with the 
ingredients (you can be creative with the ingredients).]

I hope this helps.

--
Dave in Southern California (USDA Zone 10)
[email-masked]