Three years ago I went on a boozy winery tour with a busload of artist mates. Somehow along the way I managed not only to buy two small olive trees, but also two magnificent French oak wine barrels to plant them in. Once I had persuaded the bus driver to let me manoeuvre the barrels onboard, I also had to convince the other passengers to help me load them off and back on at every winery so we could exit and re-board the bus. Let’s just say I can do without another rendition of ‘roll out the barrels’.
Three years later, planted in their barrels in inner city Melbourne, my olive trees have fruited madly. Perhaps it’s the West-facing position, combined with the heat-retaining brick wall behind them, but these trees have done their best at an astonishingly early age.
So what to do with them? Fortunately during a sobering coffee the next morning, the proprietor of the olive tree shop gave me some simple advice, which I followed.
First I picked my olives as they began to change colour and soften. Not too soft, just a bit of give when you squeeze them. I then made up a salt solution of 100g salt to 1 litre of water. Some recipes suggest making a cut in each olive, pricking them with a fork, or smashing them with the bottom end of a beer bottle to hasten the curing, but I am continually time-poor and am happy to let them be. Over the next few weeks I changed the salt solution roughly every week or ten days, and the olives gradually darkened, while the salt drew out the bitterness. I kept this up until the bitterness disappeared, and left them in clean water for a few more days to remove more salt.
Once the bitterness is removed it’s time to bottle. I chose to put mine in sterilised glass jars with a fresh salt solution of I part vinegar to 4 parts brine. I threw in a few dried chillies, garlic, peppercorns and a couple of bay leaves before filling the jars almost to the top, and then topped them up to the brim with olive oil to seal them. There are a few expensive stoneware olive-curing pots on the market, which have an inner perforated disc to keep the olives submerged. The important thing is to fill the containers to the top to exclude any air, otherwise bacteria can grow. Stored in a cool dark place the olives will improve with time and should keep for at least a year.
I like to marinate my olives in a small bowl with a few glugs of olive oil, some fresh garlic, rosemary, peppercorns and dried red chillies, and leave them for a few days before eating. And then crack open another bottle with my mates. Just don’t sing that song.
{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
Ah – you have to continuously change the salt! That’s where I faile with out first attempt. It was so incredibly bitter it tasted poisonous! I’ll follow these tips and give it another crack as home made marinated olives sound great!
I tried this a few years ago without much success – perhaps a symptom of my patience. Do you know much about what trees are best to plant?
Nice gratuitous pussy shot!
What type of olive are they?
I just planted an olive tree and I am so glad that I stumbled upon your blog. I hope one day to learn how to expel oil from the olives as well.
Thanks!
That’s amazing. You have your very own olive tree! Congratz! I’m just envious of those who can grow their own food
I wish I could.
Hiya Ed, Nice to see you blogging again.
When I lived in SA we used to pick on Saturdays & score them on sundays then plop them into the water and basically follow the same method as yours. SA is strewn with wild olives and are considered a noxious weed-try telling that to the many ethnic families who spread their balnkets under all those trees in the parks!
Hey Steve,
I am back in thevstained food blogging trousers but check the byline – Adriane is wrote this one. Got some good ones up my sleeve coming soon…
Hi Forager,
Yes you need to change the salted water frequently. Less often will still work, but just take longer. Good luck next time!
Hi Neil,
Yes some patience is required but it’s not that hard. My trees are Manzanillo and Sevillano, it’s the manzanillo in the photos – oddly the Sevillano only produced one olive this year.
Another outspoken female,
The pussy actually belongs to my neighbour, but is always happy to help out! Olive varieties as above.
Daniel,
I think you may need different varieties for oil. I have friends in Italy who have very old trees, most are purely for oil, with a couple of different trees grown for eating.
Megan, if you have a small outdoor space and some sun you can grow one too – even in a pot.
Hi Steve,
I used to spend a lot of time in the McLaren Vale and saw lots of wild olives growing along the roadside. I wish we had a few here!
Cheers,
Adriane
Great article! you can do so much with olives, I liked the link you put in for the Olive Store, looks great.
My olive tree never did bear any fruit, but then I am SO not a green thumb. Most of my plants get neglected and die a wiltingly slow death.
My FIL cures his own though and the last bath or two were bitter. I wonder how well he would take some advice about changing the salt…
Thanks for this post, I have been debating trying to can my own food, but have been a little hesitant because of patience, bacteria etc.
Hiya Ed, Nice to see you blogging again. When I lived in SA we used to pick on Saturdays & score them on sundays then plop them into the water and basically follow the same method as yours. SA is strewn with wild olives and are considered a noxious weed-try telling that to the many ethnic families who spread their balnkets under all those trees in the parks!
Hiya Ed, Nice to see you blogging again. When I lived in SA we used to pick on Saturdays & score them on sundays then plop them into the water and basically follow the same method as yours. SA is strewn with wild olives and are considered a noxious weed-try telling that to the many ethnic families who spread their balnkets under all those trees in the parks!
Using a sharp knife, cut a slit from top to bottom until you hit the hard pip. This leaches out the bitters much quicker. Remove when bitterness is gone usually six weeks to two months depending on how many salt rinses. My eight year old and her fellow goblins gobbles them when marinated with good olive oil, smashed garlic and a touch of mixed italian herbs. I usually buy the big green ones from the market. Great in salads or the horses hooves tray with yummy cheeses.
im just about to pick my two trees when curing should they be in a sealed bucket?
Using a sealed bucket just makes it easier to mix the olives to ensure even soaking. Just turn the bucket upside down a few times to mix the olives once a week. The taste from mass produced stuff is nowhere as good. These homemade ones have a slight crunchy bite like firm fruit.
Hi Rad, a sealed is a good idea just to keep dust out. Try to keep the olives submerged. I use narrow bottles and wedge lemon quarters over the olives. This year I am trying a new, simpler technique recommended by an olive grower. Make a salt solution using filtered or boiled water that can keep an egg floating in the centre (not rise to the top or sink to the bottom). Discard the egg, toss in olives (no cutting required), whole garlic bulbs, thyme, bay leaves, chillies, rosemary, peppercorns and leave for six months or so. Drain, saving olives, herbs etc, and replace with fresh salt solution. Seal with a layer of olive oil. By the time you’re picking next year’s crop, these will be ready.
I also recommend picking before they are too soft; just a bit of ‘give’ in them, for a better texture.
Good luck!
Adriane
Thanks for the tips, another question about 70% are green and 30% black should I wait for more of them to change or pick them now?
Pick them when they ‘give’ a little, regardless of colour. This year I ended up picking most of mine one weekend, and left the hard ones another week. Mine are a mix of black, semi-green and green.
It’s my first try curing olives and I think it’s ready to be bottled. You use 1 part vinegar to 4 parts brine? Is that also a 10% brine solution? Do you have any recipes for olive pesto or tapenades?
The mix of vinegar and brine plus herbs of choice provides a medium for slow curing to happen. If sealed properly, it keeps very well. I just make up that vinegar and brine mix. Pop a freezer bag half full of olives, drench the olives with half a cup of the mix along with some herbs, quarter of a lemon…seal and freeze. Keeps just as well.
To use, defrost in fridge, drain the brine but keep the spices and lemon.
Toss olives plus the spices and lemon in a bowl with good olive oil..yummy!
Hi Mary, yes that 1 part vinegar to a 10% brine solution for storing them. Remove as required and douse with olive oil, fresh garlic, herbs, chilli – whatever you fancy, to serve. Better after a few days.
A new alternative method is to make a brine salty enough for an egg to hover (not sink or float), toss olives, garlic, bay leaves, dried chilli into sterilised jars, cover with brine (made with boiled or filtered water), press quartered lemons on top to hold olives down, and leave for six months. Easy! Then drain, keeping all olives, garlic etc and replace with fresh brine solution. Ready to eat when you are ready to pick your next crop!
Hi Pete, I’ve never tried freezing them and don’t see why you’d need to as they keep for ages in jars, but thanks for the tip, I’ll try it out.
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