Tokarev
03-21-2009, 06:49 PM
The best olives are in my opinion the medium size ones, not the jumbo. The jumbo have a lot of meat on them, but fewer of them fit in a jar, and the jars cost money.
Start by picking up a few crates of olives at your trusted produce supplier. I buy 3-4 crates and they last our family a year.
Curing
There are three main methods of curing: water based, lye based and brine based. Lye is corrosive and I don't want to get involved with it. Water based requires a change of fresh water every day. I use RO water, so it will take me quite some time to change water, that's why I use another traditional method: brine based.
First step is to prepare brine. How much brine is required can be easily estimated while you are washing the olives. Curing process will be semi-sealed, as compared to wine making that is fully sealed. While wine is made in air free environment, the olives can be cured submerged in water. You will need just as much brine as needed to allow the olives to be fully submerged.
The best brine is made with coarse salt. Avoid free running table salt at all cost: in my experience, it contains such suspicious substances as 'invert sugar' which have no place in quality food. I experienced spoilage of pickled foods made with table salt and do not use it anymore.
Some olive lovers want brine to be so concentrated that an egg would float. I don't put that much salt, just so much as for the brine to be bitter to taste.
Olives have to be washed and cut or crushed with a wooden or other mallet. I cut them. The medium size olives require 3 cuts, the jumbo need 4. Just press the blade of a small knife while turning the olive in your hands, then drop the cut olive into another bucket and repeat until all olives are cut.
Put the olives into a container where they will be cured - a stainless, glass or porcelain will do - and pour brine into the container. To submerge the olives and prevent contact with air a dinner plate can be used, or a plastic bag full of regular water. If your container is made of glass, the olives will darken if left in the light. Cover them with aluminum foil, cardboard box or something suitable if you want the olives to remain green.
After a few days you will notice that small bubbles of gas start rushing to the surface of brine. The curing process has started. It takes 3-4 months depending on the size of the olives. You can start tasting them after a couple of months. If they are still bitter, wait another week. Bitter olives are not poisonous, just bitter.
When you are happy with the taste, you should remove mold that usually appears on the surface of brine, and drain brine. If some olives were not submerged and contacted the mold, they will need to be discarded due to moldy taste. That's why you are interested in submerging the olives and avoiding their contact with air.
Marinating
Cured olives are edible and taste good. You can stop at that just as well if you like, however real delicious olives can be made by marinating the cured ones.
I use Andalusian recipe:
1 lb of cured olives
4 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 cup of (red) vinegar
1-2 good slices of lemon
1 teaspoon coriander seeds, crushed (optional)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 sprigs fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 tea spoon of nutmeg
1/2 tea spoon of fennel seed
1/4 tea spoon of rosemary
1/2 tea spoon of marjoram
1/2 tea spoon of sage (optional)
1/4 tea spoon of black pepper
1/2-inch piece dried red chile pepper, seeded
2 table spoon olive oil
Put all the ingredients into a jar where they will fit and leave some space on top. Pour vinegar and fill the jar with water. Close and seal the lid and shake the jar to distribute the ingredients evenly. Marinating process takes 1-2 months, but the longer they are marinated, the better they taste. The best marinated olives are those, that you eat in the autumn, just before getting ready to buy your new supply.
Start by picking up a few crates of olives at your trusted produce supplier. I buy 3-4 crates and they last our family a year.
Curing
There are three main methods of curing: water based, lye based and brine based. Lye is corrosive and I don't want to get involved with it. Water based requires a change of fresh water every day. I use RO water, so it will take me quite some time to change water, that's why I use another traditional method: brine based.
First step is to prepare brine. How much brine is required can be easily estimated while you are washing the olives. Curing process will be semi-sealed, as compared to wine making that is fully sealed. While wine is made in air free environment, the olives can be cured submerged in water. You will need just as much brine as needed to allow the olives to be fully submerged.
The best brine is made with coarse salt. Avoid free running table salt at all cost: in my experience, it contains such suspicious substances as 'invert sugar' which have no place in quality food. I experienced spoilage of pickled foods made with table salt and do not use it anymore.
Some olive lovers want brine to be so concentrated that an egg would float. I don't put that much salt, just so much as for the brine to be bitter to taste.
Olives have to be washed and cut or crushed with a wooden or other mallet. I cut them. The medium size olives require 3 cuts, the jumbo need 4. Just press the blade of a small knife while turning the olive in your hands, then drop the cut olive into another bucket and repeat until all olives are cut.
Put the olives into a container where they will be cured - a stainless, glass or porcelain will do - and pour brine into the container. To submerge the olives and prevent contact with air a dinner plate can be used, or a plastic bag full of regular water. If your container is made of glass, the olives will darken if left in the light. Cover them with aluminum foil, cardboard box or something suitable if you want the olives to remain green.
After a few days you will notice that small bubbles of gas start rushing to the surface of brine. The curing process has started. It takes 3-4 months depending on the size of the olives. You can start tasting them after a couple of months. If they are still bitter, wait another week. Bitter olives are not poisonous, just bitter.
When you are happy with the taste, you should remove mold that usually appears on the surface of brine, and drain brine. If some olives were not submerged and contacted the mold, they will need to be discarded due to moldy taste. That's why you are interested in submerging the olives and avoiding their contact with air.
Marinating
Cured olives are edible and taste good. You can stop at that just as well if you like, however real delicious olives can be made by marinating the cured ones.
I use Andalusian recipe:
1 lb of cured olives
4 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 cup of (red) vinegar
1-2 good slices of lemon
1 teaspoon coriander seeds, crushed (optional)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 sprigs fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 tea spoon of nutmeg
1/2 tea spoon of fennel seed
1/4 tea spoon of rosemary
1/2 tea spoon of marjoram
1/2 tea spoon of sage (optional)
1/4 tea spoon of black pepper
1/2-inch piece dried red chile pepper, seeded
2 table spoon olive oil
Put all the ingredients into a jar where they will fit and leave some space on top. Pour vinegar and fill the jar with water. Close and seal the lid and shake the jar to distribute the ingredients evenly. Marinating process takes 1-2 months, but the longer they are marinated, the better they taste. The best marinated olives are those, that you eat in the autumn, just before getting ready to buy your new supply.