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 waterCuring with caustic soda ( lye)andmy personal favorite just salt.
I can buy fabulous cured olives done both in salt water brineand ones that have been done in the caustic soda.
Both of these techniques leech out the bitter qualities in the olives which make themimpossible to eat in their natural state right off the trees.
BUTjust 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!