olive you!

olive you!

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We successfully cured our first batch of olives! After months of waiting, we can finally eat the fruits of our labor.

I can’t remember if I mentioned undertaking this activity back in late November. Our neighbor, Robert, came over one day and asked if he could pick some of our olives (FYI, we have a lone tree from McEvoy Ranch in our side yard). Robert said it was very easy to cure them using a brine (water+salt+vinegar). Backyard farmers that we are, we were eager to join him in the endeavor.

The hardest parts were picking the olives (we got covered in dust) and then inspecting them for olive moth larvae (yuck!). It bummed me out we had to reject so many, but we didn’t want our guests to bite into an olive and find a worm! In the end, we only had enough to fill about three of the jars above. We’re thinking they’ll make a perfect amuse bouche at dinner parties. Right?

Brine curing olives takes a lot of time and but little attention. Olives contain a bitter element called oleuropein that needs to be leached out in order to make them edible. Robert had some great notes we followed. Basically, you crack or slice each olive in order to allow the oleuropein to be drawn out by the brine. The directions called for 1/4 cup kosher salt to 4 cups of water plus 1/2 cup vinegar (white, white wine or cider – we used plain white). We filled up the jar and made sure the olives stayed submerged – a ziploc bag of rice worked great. We covered it lightly as directed and put it in a cool dark place. We checked it every week for the first month or so. We also changed the brine every month but did not rinse the residue off the olives. Hint: it acts as a starter, much like yeast.

Then, we waited…

After several months, the olives were ready for flavoring. The directions called for 1/4 cup kosher salt to 4 cups of water. Then we added 1/2 cup white wine vinegar and herbs for flavoring. We choose black peppercorns, fresh rosemary and strips of our homemade preserved lemons. The resultant olives are salty and lemony, with a slight rosemary bouquet. They are fairly small since the tree isn’t that old but Robert assured us they will get bigger over time.

I’m really excited to do it again this fall. If you want to join the harvest and make some of your own, send me an email!