I picked a bag of black olives the other day with the idea of preserving them and then making tapenade. I have googled and got LOTS of recipes - all quite different. Does anyone have a favourite/foolpoof way that works? TIA
pickles7,
Aug 29, 3:08am
x1
I found an easy recipe the other day. I will try and find it.
Thanks cookessentials. It is interesting that the recipe from pickles just has them soaking in water for several weeks and the one from you has them soaking in brine. I am tempted to do both and see which is best! I don't think I have enough olives though. Most recipes call for a brine of some sort so I think I will go with that. Thanks for your help both of you.
uli,
Sep 1, 2:53am
yeah - you soak them in water - change every day and stir - for about 3 to 5 weeks. Just bite into them until they lost all bitterness. Then you make a brine and throw them in and that is it. I do that every year - so pretty foolproof really :)
sandhu,
Sep 1, 9:37am
That is how that site pickles gave dose them. Soak to remove the bitterness, then put them in brine. Sounds good to me.
sandhu,
Sep 1, 9:41am
Something doesn't look so good with this recipe. 1 cup of salt everyday for 12 days. then the final lot of salt. Maybe I have not read it right.
uli,
Sep 1, 11:33pm
Terrible recipe - you won't ever eat that - way too salty!
edited to say - nice to try and help - but it is one of those"googled" recipes which have not been tried out.
katalin2,
Sep 2, 12:07am
I have been curing small amounts of olives for a few years now- tried different methods, all work. Like Uli, I just use water now. The recipes I have used10% salt to water and change water every 2nd day- make 3 slits in olives. There is a recipe also where you briefly boil the olives and then brine them; and one where you soak them in a very weak caustic soda solution for a few days and then brine them. As I said all of these worked but water works just as well- just takes longer but at least it is clean and green. I quite often store them in the liquid bought jars of olives come in and add a few extras.
tlkin,
Sep 2, 3:48am
Thanks uli and katalin. Do put slits in your olives? Sounds like an awful lot of fiddly work. One recipe said to bruise them with a rolling pin. I like the idea of just using water - have them soaking right now. What strength of brine do put them in in the bottles?
katalin2,
Sep 2, 8:18am
Well we have youngish trees so only get about an ice cream container at the moment so I don't mind the slits- don't think I would do it for a bucketful tho! In the jars, I am pretty sure it is still 10% brine- I add extras such as chilli and garlic and thinly sliced lemon- and a layer of oil on top. But as I said above, I tend to use the liquid the bought olives come in recycled as we only get a few jars each year so far.
uli,
Sep 2, 9:01am
By the time you pick 10 20liter buckets you do not worry about slits ... you only worry to get COLD water onto them as soon as possible so they do not heat up!
cookessentials,
Sep 2, 9:01am
No and Kings Plant Barn would have NO idea on how to preserve olives, like most olive growers as well Uh.
katalin2,
Sep 2, 9:32am
Uli- I really envy you getting 10 bucketfuls! That must be just about a commercial operation. We planted 2 trees a few years ago- they were both doing well till we had a huge dump of snow- one didn't make it and had to be replaced and the other one is still sulking years down the track after the snow and only produces a few- before the snow it was starting to produce well. It is having one last chance - it is getting a good haircut and see if that will help- otherwise it is going to be olive leaf extract the year after!
cookessentials,
Sep 2, 6:56pm
You may find this interesting #1-from olive growers in the Hunter Valley. They have given various methods for different types of olives with lots of info you may find interesting and informative.
tlkin,
Sep 3, 5:08am
Do you have a link cookessentials? I googled Hunter Valley and there were lots of sites and I couldn't be bothered trolling through them all! -you may have a more direct route.
Having looked further at recipes, it would seem that soaking in brine is a shorter way of curing them - water takes weeks, brine takes days. And salt is not expensive.
tlkin,
Sep 3, 5:09am
Thanks katalin. that is helpful about the brine etc.
fifie,
Sep 3, 5:59am
Heres a tried recipe from NZ gardner that some one sent in, haven't made it myself but it may help you decide. Pickled Olives. 3 KG Olives, Rock Salt. Stand the olives in rock salt for 1 week, stir daily. After a week, add the olives to the Brine. Brine: 6 ltr water 1 egg Rock Salt Boil the water and stand until cool. Place the egg (unboiled and still in its shell) in the water. Add the salt until the egg floats. The olives usually take 3 weeks in the brine, however my mum used to check them every week to see if they were still bitter (a lot of trial and error passed down from her parents) When the olives are no longer bitter, strain the brine and place them in jars with a mixture of either 1 part vinegar and 1 part water or 1 part vinegar and 1 part oil.
have changed the water everyday and now bitterness has gone. (What a disgusting taste the bitterness is!) Just about to make the brine and pop them into jars!
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