Another bountiful harvest of olives from our trees in Palm Springs left me with one thing to do, cure them. I picked a mixture of green, reddish, and ripe purple olives from the 50 year old trees. After rinsing and seperating the olives, I set out to do perform a few different techniques. I made a medieval torture-looking device out of a cork and needles to prick the olives for leaching the bitterness.
I used this for the green and black olives. The green olives went directly into a brine mixture of salt, water and vinegar that was changed weekly for a month, then finished off by jarring in the brine solution with herbs. I will give these another month or so before sampling but they look pretty good so far.
The mixed reddish-green and reddish-purple olives were smashed with a rolling pin- don't wear white when doing this, and placed in a container of water, shown below, and drained and changed of water daily for two weeks. I then made a similar brine solution for these with the addition of herbs de provence, garlic, and lemons, which is where they remain now melding their flavors and added to every cheese board, salumi, or mediterranean plate I put out. They've been a big hit and very flavorful, just like those you'd see at the olive bar at the market.
Speaking of the olive bar, our favorite ones are the morrocan cured black olives. Those shriveled, salty olives are the ones I've set out to make with the ripe black olives harvested. Those were also pricked with the torture device, then placed in a cloth-lined strainer and covered with sea salt. They sat over a pot in the cupboard for over a month until yesterday, when I rinsed them and tossed them with meyer lemon, herbs de provence, fresh rosemary and thyme and a good douse of olive oil. I've already tasted them and they have that meaty umami flavor with a hint of bitterness and I assume they will become even more flavorful over the next few days in their marinade- I'll keep you posted. Next batch, I will definitely be making more if not all of these with the salt curing method. I may be a little biased, but I think they're even better than those from the market. That and they don't come with the $8/lb pricetag. Hey, it is a recession...
I used this for the green and black olives. The green olives went directly into a brine mixture of salt, water and vinegar that was changed weekly for a month, then finished off by jarring in the brine solution with herbs. I will give these another month or so before sampling but they look pretty good so far.
The mixed reddish-green and reddish-purple olives were smashed with a rolling pin- don't wear white when doing this, and placed in a container of water, shown below, and drained and changed of water daily for two weeks. I then made a similar brine solution for these with the addition of herbs de provence, garlic, and lemons, which is where they remain now melding their flavors and added to every cheese board, salumi, or mediterranean plate I put out. They've been a big hit and very flavorful, just like those you'd see at the olive bar at the market.
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