Hey look what I got!
OLIVES
Easy to when you live in the middle of an olive grove in Tuscany.
But even I must buy olives to preserve.
My neighbors did give me olives as a nice gesture when I gave them some of my
freshly pressed oil from the Becchina Estates in Castelvetrano.
But for curing olives in salt, as I do, you need fully ripened olives.
I have experimented with three different techniques:
Brining in salt water
Curing with caustic soda ( lye)
and
my personal favorite just salt.
I can buy fabulous cured olives done both in salt water brine
and ones that have been done in the caustic soda.
Both of these techniques leech out the bitter qualities in the olives which make them
impossible to eat in their natural state right off the trees.
BUT
just simply layering the ripe olives in coarse sea salt ( sale grosso)
is my all time favorite and harder to find to buy in shops.
The olives are rinsed off and dried
and then layers in a glass jar.
I made two jars this year, a little over a kilo of olives.
Daily I will pour off any liquids which form on the bottom of the jars.
OLIVES
Easy to when you live in the middle of an olive grove in Tuscany.
But even I must buy olives to preserve.
My neighbors did give me olives as a nice gesture when I gave them some of my
freshly pressed oil from the Becchina Estates in Castelvetrano.
But for curing olives in salt, as I do, you need fully ripened olives.
I have experimented with three different techniques:
Brining in salt water
Curing with caustic soda ( lye)
and
my personal favorite just salt.
I can buy fabulous cured olives done both in salt water brine
and ones that have been done in the caustic soda.
Both of these techniques leech out the bitter qualities in the olives which make them
impossible to eat in their natural state right off the trees.
BUT
just simply layering the ripe olives in coarse sea salt ( sale grosso)
is my all time favorite and harder to find to buy in shops.
The olives are rinsed off and dried
and then layers in a glass jar.
I made two jars this year, a little over a kilo of olives.
Daily I will pour off any liquids which form on the bottom of the jars.
When there is no more liquid, the olives are ready.
Then I rinse them off again and dry.
I then season them with olive oil, giving them a protective covering.
I pour on some oil and toss the olives.
My husband loves to snack on them as is, but they are also wonderful
seasoned with grated orange rind and some chili pepper flakes.
Buon Olive!
Then I rinse them off again and dry.
I then season them with olive oil, giving them a protective covering.
I pour on some oil and toss the olives.
My husband loves to snack on them as is, but they are also wonderful
seasoned with grated orange rind and some chili pepper flakes.
Buon Olive!
I took your advice a while back and have the olives from my little garden in salt-can't wait until they are ready! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteBrava! not only are they great for snacking, but these olives make a fabulous chicken cacciatore!
ReplyDeletemuch richer in flavor!
also for crostini with goat cheese!!!
making a olive pate.
Viva Olives!
looks wonderful! about how long does it take for them to be ready?
ReplyDeletedepends on the olives, but maybe a month?
ReplyDeleteyou don't need to do anything except drain them daily.
and old recipe I have has them being hung out in the garden in pantyhose or stockings, just letting them drip!
May I tell you a story about my one and only contact with olives on a tree. I was picking them for money, I had never seen an olive tree befoe and thought like pickles they came that way naturally.(I now know the true beginnings of both) anyway my picking partner said "go ahead eat one it's O.K." So I did, you know the face I made and the sputtering to get it out of my mouth. It was a big joke on me and one I havn't forgotten 40 plus years latter. I do however still like olives. Thanks for listening to my story, your blog brought it back to mind. TTFn
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful inspiring post, Judy. Thanks for sharing that experience with me. L
ReplyDeletewow what a nice blog!!! i live in Florence too :-) i love olives! my dad has an oliveto (sorry don't know the english word for an olive field!) and we produce a wonderful green oil, this year was absolutely gorgeous! we usually make also jars of olives for snacks, but we use just olive oil, not salt...
ReplyDeleteanyway your olives with salt seem really tasty too!
Ciao Diva
ReplyDeletese passi da noi abbiamo un premio per te!!!
Wow! What an amazingly simple recipe! I love this!!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! Your blog is fantastic!
Cheers,
~ Paula
(of Ambrosia Quest)
Olives, olives, olives how I love olives. And this year we are doing the same thing...curing some after spending some good quality time plucking them from their branches. I never had so much fun around food before.
ReplyDeleteWhich brings me to how much I love your blog. It inspires me to try new recipes (I am not a cook by any means). I wrote a short blurb on your blog in my post called "I Love your Blog" so my friends will also get to know you.
I found you over at Panini girl. I also like your site and am adding you straight to my favourites - hope that's OK.
ReplyDeleteI usually make the brine recipe, but a neighbour told me about the salt version just a few days ago and since you've provided all the details - I'm trying this method this year. I'll let you know how it goes. (Yes, I know we're late - circumstances beyond our control.)
So, I tried this method using a mix between your recipe and my neighbour's. I'm converted - no more changing water. This is the one! They were slightly bitter, though. Even though I liked them, next year I'm going to experiment with a cross between the salt and brine versions.
ReplyDelete