How to Cure Greek Olives
If you tasted an olive straight from its tree, it would taste distinctly different to that which you buy from a grocery store. This is because freshly picked olives are hard and bitter. To remove this bitterness, olives must undergo a process called curing. There a quite a few different ways to cure an olive and all of them take a lengthy period of time, but one of the easier methods is water-curing. This is most suitable for big, green, Greek olives and is a relatively simple and inexpensive task to perform at home. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- Buckets with lids
- Sea salt
- Colander
- Chopping board
- Knife
- Quart jars
- Olive oil
Instructions
-
-
1
Place your olives in a colander and rinse with cold water to remove any dirt or debris. Clean off any leaves or stalks and discard any bruised or wrinkled olives. You want the freshest and firmest produce.
-
2
Lay the olives on a chopping board. Carefully slit each olive lengthwise with a sharp knife, stopping when you reach the pit. Be careful not to bruise the pit.
-
-
3
Put the olives in a bucket. Fill the bucket with enough cold water to completely cover all the olives. Place a lid on the bucket to prevent anything from entering the water and then let the olives soak for six to eight days. Change the water twice a day, morning and evening.
-
4
Check the olives after four days to see if the bitterness is gone. Do this by tasting an olive.
-
5
Fill a bucket with 1 part sea salt and 10 parts water. This is known as a brine solution. Soak the olives in this solution for four to six weeks, stirring as often as you remember. Keep the buckets covered. Change the brine solution each week.
-
6
Remove the olives from the buckets and rinse in clean cold water.
-
7
Make a new batch of brine solution and fill quart jars with this liquid. Place even amounts of olives in each jar and top with 1 tbsp. of olive oil. Store for up to one month in the refrigerator.
-
1
References
- Photo Credit Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images
