Salty, flavourful little morsels that beat store-bought by a mile. Most store-bought olives are lye-cured which changes the real olive texture and taste.
Making your own brine cured olives feels like such an accomplishment. Tending to your olives, refreshing the brine, tasting and testing…
Once they’re finished the taste will far outweigh the effort spent on the brining. If you have an olive tree (or a few) on your property you’ll know how abundantly they can produce. Unless you’re planning on pressing for oil, in which case you’ll usually need 50kg minimum, there’s not much else to do with olives except for curing them.
The process for brine-curing takes patience but the effort involved is not difficult. Start by picking your olives.
Once you have your selection, if you have a real difference in colours, you can sort the green ones away from the black ones. This is because the green ones are less mature and will need a little longer to brine and lose their bitterness.
I personally don’t. I make it as easy as possible for myself and have a wide range of colours and sizes in my bulk olive bucket. It does mean different flavours in the end result but it’s a lot easier.
Once your olives are sorted, wash them well and remove any really damaged olives. A little bird pecked is fine, but if they are starting to rot then take those out.
The same goes for any dry and shrivelled looking olives. You want them as plump and damaged free as possible.
Now here’s the bit that will determine how long your olives take to bring. You can choose now to slit your olives, or leave them whole. Slitting each olive will allow the water and salt to penetrate it faster and remove the bitterness. If you leave them whole, they’ll need to sit in a brine a lot longer.
I leave mine whole.
To slit the olives, use a sharp knife to cut a little slit into each olive. Alternatively, you can carefully ‘crush’ your olives with a heavy object such as a meat tenderiser or a flat stone. Crush them enough to just break the skin but not to completely flatten the olives.
Now, give them an initial soak in plain water for a 2-3 days, changing the water daily. Keep the olives completely submerged in the water (use a plate or weight to hold them under).
After soaking in water, it is time to soak your olives in brine. You can make a simple brine solution using a ratio of 1 parts salt to 10 parts water. Use an unprocessed salt such as rock salt or sea salt, not with any added iodine as this can affect the end taste of the olives. Boiling your brine solution (and then leaving to cool) before adding to your olives can reduce the chance of any moulds of bad bacteria forming on your olives.
Cover the olives with the brine in an airtight container, making sure the olives are again completely submerged. I put mine in a big bucket and dinner plate works to hold them down.
If you have slit or crushed your olives, they will only need to sit in brine for 4-6 weeks depending on taste. If you have left them whole they can sit in brine for up to 4 months (though check to see when it needs changing.)
How often you change the brine is dependant on your environment. If the olives stay submerged and there is no sign of mould, the brine can be changed once every 3 weeks. If mould is growing, simply tip the brine out, rinse the olives and make fresh brine.
Check your olives after 4-6 weeks. If they are still too bitter, keep soaking them until you are happy.
If they are very salty, don’t worry for now. The main quest is to remove the bitterness.
Once the bitterness has gone, tip out the salt brine and refill the bucket with fresh water. Soak your olives in fresh water for 1-2 weeks, changing the water every 2-4 days. This will help remove some of the salt.
Now it is time to jar up your olives in sterilised preserving jars.
As the olives prepared this way will be quite salty, I place them in a vinegar brine at the end.(I use my homemade apple cider vinegar). This will draw out some of the salt and add flavour. Add in any other flavourings you like such as lemon, lime, garlic, oregano, rosemary, chilli.
My vinegar brine is at a ratio of 1 part vinegar, 5 parts water.
Cover the olives with the vinegar brine and flavourings. Ensure the olives are submerged under the brine. Pour over a little layer of olive oil which will stop oxygen touching the olives. Seal the jars, and let them sit for a week to infuse the newly added flavours before sampling.
Olives store well in a sealed jar for up 6 months in a cool dark place. Once opened, store in the fridge and use within a month.
Happy curing!
Brine-Cured Olives
Equipment
- Food Grade Plastic Bucket or Glass Jar
Ingredients
- Olives
- Uniodized salt
- Water
- Apple cider vinegar
- Flavourings (lemon, garlic, herbs, chili..)
Instructions
- Pick your olives
- If you have a real difference in colours, sort the green ones away from the black ones. This is because the green ones are less mature and will need a little longer to brine and lose their bitterness.
- Wash them well and remove any really damaged olives and dry shrivelled olives.
- You can choose now to slit your olives, or leave them whole. Slitting each olive will allow the water and salt to penetrate it faster and remove the bitterness. If you leave them whole, they’ll need to sit in a brine a lot longer.
- To slit the olives, use a sharp knife to cut a little slit into each olive. Alternatively, you can carefully ‘crush’ your olives with a heavy object such as a meat tenderiser or a flat stone. Crush them enough to just break the skin but not to completely flatten the olives.
- Now, give them an initial soak in plain water for a 2-3 days, changing the water daily. Keep the olives completely submerged in the water (use a plate or weight to hold them under). I use a large food-grade plastic bucket with a lid.
- Now soak the olives in brine using a ratio of 1 parts uniodized salt to 10 parts water. Boiling your brine solution and then leaving to cool before adding to your olives can reduce the chance of any moulds of bad bacteria forming on the brine solution.
- Cover the olives with the brine in an airtight container, making sure the olives are again completely submerged. I use a dinner plate to hold them down.
- If you have slit or crushed your olives, they will only need to sit in brine for 4-6 weeks depending on taste. If you have left them whole they can sit in brine for up to 4 months.
- How often you change the brine is dependant on your environment. If the olives stay submerged and there is no sign of mould, the brine can be changed once every 3 weeks. If mould is growing, simply tip the brine out, rinse the olives and make fresh brine.
- Check your olives after 4-6 weeks. If they are still too bitter, keep soaking them until you are happy.
- If they are very salty, don’t worry for now. The main quest is to remove the bitterness.
- Once the bitterness has gone, tip out the salt brine and refill the bucket with fresh water. Soak your olives in fresh water for 1-2 weeks, changing the water every 2-4 days. This will help remove some of the salt.
- Now it is time to jar up your olives in sterilised preserving jars.
- As the olives prepared this way will be quite salty, place them in a vinegar brine at the end, ratio 1 part vinegar and 5 parts water. This will draw out some of the salt and add flavour.
- Add in any other flavourings you like such as lemon, lime, garlic, oregano, rosemary, chilli.
- Cover the olives with the vinegar brine and flavourings. Ensure the olives are submerged under the brine. Pour over a little layer of olive oil which will stop oxygen touching the olives. Seal the jars, and let them sit for a week to infuse the newly added flavours before sampling.
- Olives store well in a sealed jar for up 6 months in a cool dark place. Once opened, store in the fridge and use within a month.
Have you made these? Tag me and let me know! @home_grown_happinessnz
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