Content

• To step
• Method 1 of 4: Preserve in water
• Method 2 of 4: Preserve in brine
• Method 3 of 4: Preserve dried
• Method 4 of 4: Preserve with lye
• Tips
• Warnings
• Necessities

Preserving olives is an ancient process that turns the naturally bitter fruits into a salty, savory snack. Choose a method that works best with the olives you have. Preserving can be done with water, brine, drying or lye, all of which give the olives a different flavor and texture. It takes a lot of time, but if you can make your own olives you can give them exactly the taste you want.

To step

Method 1 of 4: Preserve in water

1. Buy fresh green olives. By preserving olives in water, you extract oleuropein, the component of olives that gives the sharp, bitter taste. Green olives are really just unripe olives (just like green tomatoes are unripe tomatoes) and they naturally taste quite mild, so you can easily preserve them with just water.
   • If you leave green olives on the tree, they will turn purple or black. Once they are ripe, you cannot remove the bitter taste with water alone; then you have to use another method.
2. Inspect the olives. Make sure there are no spots on it. Check for holes from birds or insects. If the olives have been sprayed, rinse them well before canning.
3. Crush the olives. In order for the water to penetrate, you have to crush or cut them open. You can do this with a wooden hammer or with a rolling pin. Beat the olives gently so that they remain intact as much as possible. The meat should tear open, but not be completely crushed or broken into pieces. Also be careful not to damage the wick.
   • If you want your olives to keep looking good, you can also cut them open with a knife. Take a sharp kitchen knife and make three slices in each olive so that the water can enter.
4. Place the olives in a plastic container with cold water. Cover all olives with the water, make sure that no olives come out of the water. You may have to keep them under water by putting something on them like a plate. Cover it loosely and put the container in a cool, dark place.
   • Make sure the container does not release toxic substances into the water. A glass container is also suitable, as long as you make sure it is not exposed to the sun.
5. Change the water. Change the water at least once a day with fresh, cold, preferably purified water. Make sure not to forget this, otherwise bacteria may build up in the water. To change the water, throw the olives in a sieve, rinse the container and refill it with fresh, cold water.
6. Keep repeating this for about a week. After a week of changing the water every day, you can taste an olive to see how it tastes. When it is no longer too bitter, the olives are ready; if you want them to be even less bitter, you can wait a few more days (and change the water every day).
7. Make a saline solution. You keep the olives in this solution. It is a mixture of salt, water and vinegar in which you can store the olives and which gives the olives a nice preserved taste. Mix the following ingredients (for 5 kilos of olives):
   • 3.8 liters of cold water
   • 360 grams of sea salt
   • 480 ml white wine vinegar
8. Drain the olives and put them in a jar for storage. Use a large mason jar with a lid or another container of your choice. Wash and dry the jar thoroughly before adding the olives.Leave about 3 cm free at the top.
9. Pour the salt solution over the olives. Pour it into the pot so that all the olives are covered. Put the lid on and put the olives in the fridge.
   • You can add lemon zest, rosemary, garlic, or black pepper to flavor the olives.
   • The olives will keep for a year in the refrigerator.

Method 2 of 4: Preserve in brine

1. Buy fresh olives. You can pickle both green and black olives in brine, a mixture of salt and water that will preserve the olives and give them a nice salty taste. This method takes longer than just water, so use it on ripe olives instead. Manzanillo, mission, and kalamata olives are usually pickled in brine.
   • Inspect the olives. Make sure there are no spots on it. Check for holes from birds or insects. If the olives have been sprayed, rinse them well before canning.
   • You may want to sort the olives by size. The olives will have a more even taste if they are all the same size.
2. Cut the olives. In order to brine the olives, the water must be able to penetrate deep into the olives, so you have to cut them open to let the moisture in. Cut the olives in half vertically with a sharp knife; make sure not to cut the wick.
3. Put the olives in glass jars with lids. They must be kept airtight, and that is best in glass jars. Add the olives, leaving about 3 cm at the top.
4. Pour the brine over the olives. Mix 180 grams of sea salt with 3.8 liters of cold water. Pour the brine into the jars so that the olives are completely covered. Close the jars and put them in a dark, cool place, such as a cellar or pantry.
5. Wait a week. The olives are now in brine. Leave the pots undisturbed so that the water and salt can penetrate deep into the olives.
6. Drain the olives. After a week, drain the olives and discard the brine, which has turned completely bitter. Leave the olives in the jars.
7. Cover the olives with a stronger brine. Mix 360 grams of sea salt with 3.8 liters of water. Pour this brine into the jars so that the olives are completely covered. Close the jars.
8. Keep the olives for two months. Place them in a cool place without sunlight. At the end of the two months you have to taste if the olives taste the way you want. If not, refresh the brine and store it for another two months. Repeat this until you like the taste.

Method 3 of 4: Preserve dried

1. Buy ripe olives. You can preserve black, fatty olives with salt. Manzanillo, mission and kalamata olives are preserved in this way. Make sure they are completely ripe and dark. Inspect the olives. Make sure there are no spots on it. Check for holes from birds or insects.
2. Wash the olives. If the olives have been sprayed, rinse them well before canning. Then let them dry well.
3. Weigh the olives. For every kilogram of olives you need a pound of coarse sea salt.
4. Prepare a container. You can use a wooden fruit box about 6 inches deep, with two slats on one side. Line the crate with burlap, including the sides, and secure with staples at the top. Prepare exactly the same crate.
   • You can also line the crates with cheesecloth, with a piece of old sheet or a napkin, as long as the salt remains in the container and moisture is absorbed.
5. Mix the olives with the salt. Place a pound of sea salt and a kilo of olives in a large bowl. Mix it well so that each olive is coated with salt.
   • Do not use table salt with iodine; this affects the taste of the olives. You need sea salt.
   • Don't be too sparing with the salt, as it will prevent the olives from getting moldy.
6. Pour the mixture into the crate. Put all the olives with salt in one crate and cover with a layer of salt. Cover the crate with cheesecloth to keep insects away.
7. Place the crate in a covered place outside. Put a piece of tarpaulin underneath, because the juices from the olives can stain the surface. You can also place the crate on logs to improve air circulation.
8. Stir the olives after a week. Discard the contents of the crate in the other crate. Shake well to stir the olives, then throw them back in the original crate. This way you ensure that all olives are well covered with salt and you can see whether there are damaged or rotten olives. Throw them away, because they cannot be eaten.
   • Discard olives with round spots (probably mold). The fungus usually starts at the stalk of the olive.
   • Check whether the olives are evenly preserved. If an olive is shriveled on one side and still thick on the other, you may need to moisten it before putting it back in the salt; then you ensure that the thick side will also shrivel.
9. Repeat this every week for a month. After this, you can taste an olive to see if it has the desired flavor. If the olive is still too bitter, continue the drying process for a few more weeks. After about a month to six weeks, you should be fine, depending on the size of the olives. When they are done, they will be shriveled and soft.
10. Drain the mixture. Strain out the salt by placing the olives on a piece of gauze, or remove the olives from the salt and shake them off one at a time.
11. Let the olives dry overnight. Spread them out on kitchen paper or tea towels and let them dry well.
12. Keep the olives. Mix the olives with a pound of salt per five kilos of olives to preserve them well, put them in glass jars and seal them well. Put in the fridge to keep them for several months.
    • You can also add olive oil and herbs.

Method 4 of 4: Preserve with lye

1. Be very careful when working with lye. Lye can cause burns. Wear protective gloves and goggles and do not use a plastic or metal container or tools (even a metal lid can dissolve in lye).
   • Do not use lye if children have access to the olives.
   • Conduct the process in a well-ventilated room. Open the windows and turn on a fan.
2. Clean the olives. This method works best with large olives, such as Seville olives. You can use green or ripe olives for this. Take out damaged olives and sort them by size.
3. Put the olives in a container that can withstand lye. Do not use a metal container; a large glass or stone container is best.
4. Make the lye solution. Pour 3.8 liters of water into the container. Add 56 grams of lye. The solution immediately becomes hot. Let it cool to 18 - 21 ° C before adding the olives.
   • Always add the lye to the water; never add water to lye. That can trigger an explosive reaction.
   • Measure it exactly. If you use too much lye, it is harmful to the olives; too little lye prevents them from being properly preserved.
5. Pour the lye over the olives. Cover the olives completely with the lye solution. Place a plate on top of the olives so that no air can get in, as this can cause them to discolor dark. Then cover the tray with cheesecloth.
6. Stir the mixture every two hours until the lye has penetrated all the way to the kernels. For the first eight hours, stir the mixture and cover it again. After eight hours, check the olives to see if it has already penetrated to the pits. Wear chemical resistant gloves and pick out some of the largest olives. If you can easily cut them right up to the stone, and the flesh is soft through and through and yellow-green in color, the olives are ready. If the pulp is still pale in the middle, put it back on and try again after a few hours.
   • Never pick up the olives with your bare hands. If you don't have chemical resistant gloves, use a spoon and rinse them under the tap for a few minutes before cutting the olives.
7. Change the lye solution if necessary. If the olives are very green, it may take more than 12 hours for the lye to be completely absorbed. If so, drain the olives and add a new lye solution. After another 12 hours, do the same if the lye still hasn't reached the pits.
8. Soak the olives in water for two days. Change the water at least twice a day. This way you wash the olives and the lye can flow out again. Every time you change the water, it becomes lighter in color.
9. Taste an olive on the fourth day. If it tastes sweet and greasy, without a bitter or soapy taste, move on to the next step. If the olives still taste like lye, soak them longer and rinse them until they taste mild and the water is clear.
10. Store the olives in light brine. Place the olives in a glass jar. Put 6 tablespoons of sea salt in 3.8 liters of water and pour it over the olives. Let them stand for a week, then you can eat them. Keep the olives in the fridge to keep them good for weeks.

Tips

• If you make a solution of water and salt you have reached the correct proportions if a raw egg (with shell!) That you put in the solution floats.
• The salt can easily dissolve in the water if you boil the mixture and let it cool before adding the olives.
• Shriveled olives grow back a bit when they are marinated in olive oil for a few days.
• If you have a burn from the lye, keep it under the tap for 15 minutes and then go to the doctor. Never try to neutralize it with lemon juice or vinegar: mixing acids and bases can be dangerous.
• Make sure to only use lye that is suitable for canning food. Never use a sink unblocker or oven cleaner (sometimes contains lye) to make olives.

Warnings

• Mold can form on the surface of the preserving liquid. It is harmless as long as the olives are submerged in the moisture. However, the fungus must be removed.
• Do not taste the olives while they are soaking in the lye, wait until the three days with water are over before tasting them.

Necessities

• Protective gloves
• Safety glasses
• Two wooden or plastic crates
• Burlap, cheesecloth, sheets or cloth handkerchiefs