Olives Home-made

[wotavidone]

Re: Olives Home-made

Dammit! I'm supposed to be washing the ute and clearing out the garage and putting a new belt on the grey water pump.
Instead, I've read this thread and promptly walked down the back yard and picked 2 and a half kilos of green olives to experiment with. It's a public holiday Monday here in sunny South Oz, and the olives on the north side of the tree are just starting to turn red. Since I'm a green olive man, I decided it's time to get going.
I had a small crop last year, then I pruned the tree. The very first crop was consumed by my pet rooster Angus, may he RIP. No, the olives didn't kill him, in fact I think they contributed to his extraordinarily long life. He used to dig himself a dust bath under the tree then sit there all day pecking off the low hanging fruit. I weighed him at 5 kg once.
My Greek Australian neighbour, gave me this cutting from his best tree several years ago. It's just over my head now, and it's loaded this year.
I'm fast running out of his pickled olives, and there will be no more. He had a stroke and he and his wife moved to the city to be closer to the kids and the big hospitals. There's a tenant in his house now, and no one looking after the olive trees as far as I can see. Sigh.........
So, I have to carry the torch going forward.
Wish Annie M was around, I'd like to see what she thinks of using seawater for pickling.

[cobblerdave]

Re: Olives Home-made

G'day
I was wondering how the olives were going?
Regards dave

[wotavidone]

Re: Olives Home-made

G'day Dave.
I started them soaking 8 days ago. I've seen plenty of recipes that say that they need 10 to 20 days for green olives to lose the bitterness, so just out of interest I bit into one last night when I was changing the water.
I shoulda listened to Socrates when he told me that these particular olives need a month of soaking. My goodness, it was very bitter.
I reckon I'll be doing the full month of soaking.
Come to think of it, Angus the rooster only used to eat the black ones - one smart rooster. I still miss having him run across the lawn to greet me of a morning.
I'm using one of my home brew fermenters for the soaking. It works well, just sit the thing on the sink and turn on the tap and it drains nicely.
Couldn't make up my mind whether to use water or brine. So I'm using rain water with a couple of spoonfuls of salt to inhibit growth of any nasty bacteria.
Planning to do a 'big' harvest in the next couple of weeks. By which I mean I hope to get as much as 5 more kilos off the tree.

[Greenman]

Re: Olives Home-made

I preserve quite a few things and make chutney, jam and relish from the local produce in season. I have always been a lover of olives but there are none around here. I have just got a new book on preserving - Preserving The Italian Way - by Pietro Demaio. It is loaded with great advice and I saw it had a number or recipes for olives using both fresh water and brine culminating in preserving in either brine or oil.

Worth a look if you have a lot of olives available it would be a pity not to get the best from them. The book was $40 but the local library probably has it or can get it. It featured on a current affairs program a year or so ago and it has taken me that long to get a copy. It is now in paperback and a little cheaper.

I hope you get joy from your olive preserving. It is really the best when home preserving works well. My kids love the basket of preserved produce I give them for Christmas, the only thing they can not buy anywhere.

The forno is great for cooking capsicum etc for antipasto and drying tomato as it gets to the bottom of the cooling cycle.

[wotavidone]

Re: Olives Home-made

Tasted another olive while I was changing the water today. Texture is right - sorta crisp. Much less bitter. Reckon I'll be jarring these next weekend.
Reckon it'll be two parts brine, i part vinegar, clove of garlic and a fresh chili.

Based on this recipe here which seems much like my old mate Socrates used.
Olive pickling | Greek recipes | SBS Food

Went out to the tree to check out the ones I was planning to pick this weekend. To my horror they were all a bit shriveled. Obviously, I should have watered the tree more often. It hasn't rained here for a couple months, and we only get about 12 inches a year anyway, I should have paid more attention.
I let the hose trickle on the tree all day. Hopefully they'll be nicely plump again tomorrow. They did seem better when I checked the tree in the late afternoon.

[v12spirit]

Re: Olives Home-made

I have to post on this thread as we grow olives as a family tradition. Two kinds of olives with two idividual primitive ways of provision. The green one is smashed by a stone, rinsed with water to remove the bitterness for up to one month (optional. I skip that), bottled just with what we name "floating-egg water" made by adding salt to fresh water until a fresh egg floats to the top, 2 cm layer of olive oil on top, seal the jar, and done. Some deviced an interesting alternative for sealed jars; PLASTIC bottles namely soda bottles that resist gas pressure, fill it with olives (one by one, boring isn't it?) then the salty water, olive oil at the bottle top, then seal. They are opened by cutting the bottle neck with a knife. Smashing olives gives a completely different flavor from striating it by knife, no need to destroy the olives; just one meld stroke strong enough to open the olives. These olives can last with a fresh green color and a crisp texture for long especially when not rinsed too much with water. What you get is a fresh olive taste without any extra flavorings like lemon, chili, or garlic. Delicious.

The second is black. Layered dry in a cloth bag with generous salt layers in between, bag closed, a weight (up to twice the weight of the olive bag) on top; I use my millstone. Leave it for a 1-2 months while tossing (and turning) the bag and/or its contents every week or so. Can be jarred soaked in olive oil or less expensively drizzled with olive oil and kept in a bucket in a cool and dry place while tossing them daily so the drained olive oil at the bottom can reclad the whole olives so to prevent pacteria build up. It does last for a year provided a daily tossing is maintained. This olive is named 'retted olive' and has a deep earthy flavor and an attractive curly skin. Not the thing appreciated by youngs and children. I like it fresh and use it for pizza topping.

I have it daily on breakfast. Unfortunately the retted olives have been consumed so I could only show the green ones. The best mate with olives is Labneh; yogurt condensed in a cloth bag with the aid of a weight on top so the liquid is drained until stiff enough to be shaped into balls salted and garnished with black seeds.

[wotavidone]

Re: Olives Home-made

I have to post on this thread as we grow olives as a family tradition. Two kinds of olives with two idividual primitive ways of provision. The green one is smashed by a stone, rinsed with water to remove the bitterness for up to one month (optional. I skip that), bottled just with what we name "floating-egg water" made by adding salt to fresh water until a fresh egg floats to the top, 2 cm layer of olive oil on top, seal the jar, and done. Some deviced an interesting alternative for sealed jars; PLASTIC bottles namely soda bottles that resist gas pressure, fill it with olives (one by one, boring isn't it?) then the salty water, olive oil at the bottle top, then seal. They are opened by cutting the bottle neck with a knife. Smashing olives gives a completely different flavor from striating it by knife, no need to destroy the olives; just one meld stroke strong enough to open the olives. These olives can last with a fresh green color and a crisp texture for long especially when not rinsed too much with water. What you get is a fresh olive taste without any extra flavorings like lemon, chili, or garlic. Delicious.

Those green ones look beautiful. If you put them straight in a jar without soaking them first, how long must they be in the jar before they lose enough bitterness to be edible? I've done the knife cut thing, but it does bother me that soaking them with water must also remove flavour while it is leaching out the bitterness. Particularly interested in th egreen ones because I really like olives to be crisp when I bite into them.

[v12spirit]

Re: Olives Home-made

Those green ones look beautiful. If you put them straight in a jar without soaking them first, how long must they be in the jar before they lose enough bitterness to be edible? I've done the knife cut thing, but it does bother me that soaking them with water must also remove flavour while it is leaching out the bitterness. Particularly interested in th egreen ones because I really like olives to be crisp when I bite into them.

Depending on how much you can bear/like bitterness it could be one up to two months. Honestly these have been made 6+ months ago and still have a slight lovely bitterness which is how I like them. But they were edible for sure by anyone after 3 months from jarring. Not being soaked contributes alot to the crisp. Do the smashing gently between two bricks, and jar them maybe after a few days of soaking or better without.
BTW The black ones are as delicious too, and can end up eventually with a sweet deep flavor. They are the best fit for pizza toppings having a concentrated flavor. Just give it a try.

[wotavidone]

Re: Olives Home-made

Changed the water last night - these things have been three weeks now, and the olive I tasted was still bitter but I could eat the whole thing, and while I was refilling with clean water I felt like I wanted another. That's close enough for me. Into the floating egg brine on Saturday, or maybe even during the week if I get time. I've been adding a couple tablespoons of salt each time I've changed the water, so they've been lightly salted all the way through.
I reckon I'll do them the way my neighbour used to do them.
A mixture of brine, white vinegar, a clove of garlic, a whole fresh chilli, and a layer of olive oil on top.
His last for years in the cupboard, can't see why mine wouldn't.
I've got some red ones soaking too - I'll do those similar but, just because I have some, I'll try red wine vinegar.
Looked at thre tree this morning - I could pick another load if I wanted. The deep watering I gave it on Sunday has paid off - all the olives are plump and wrinkle free.

[wotavidone]

Re: Olives Home-made

When I find decision making at work difficult, I like to leave my desk and pace the corridor.
So I'm walking past a colleague's office today, and it occurs to me to leave work behind for a few minutes and ask, "Hey Pat, you're of Mediterranean descent,so I've got to ask, have you ever preserved your own olives?"
The answer was "No, but my dad did it for years."
I was treated to a few wonderful moments of reminiscing about his childhood in a remote mining town, and how his father used to load the kids in the car and journey a few miles out of town to collect bucket loads of olives from a roadside tree.
It is amazing how a fruit that is basically inedible as it comes off the tree can make so many eyes light up.
Conversation ended with a promise to bring in some of mine for his appraisal when they are done.

[wotavidone]

Re: Olives Home-made

This home made olives thing is rather addictive

I was thinking I had put up enough olives for a year, but now I need to do some black ones, Italian style, for mum.
I decided I'd to go and see what is happening at my neighbour's place, which is between tenants at the moment.
He grafted some Kalamatas onto his tree a few years back, and they are loaded. One of the last things his wife said when they left was"Help yourself". Came back with about a gallon of black Kalamatas.
These kalamatas are grafted onto the normal Olive tree, so I've got a few of those that sort of fell into the bucket - so those are soaking separately, and I'll do those in brine and red wine vinegar a la Dino Pizza's recipe.
I also picked a few more green ones from my tree and put them straight in a jar with "floating egg brine" a la V12Spirit's recipe. We shall see if I've done that right. I didn't do the hit 'em with a rock thing - couldn't get it right, they either didn't split or were smashed beyond recognition.
So now I have 4 litres or so of Kalamatas soaking, a litre of Socsy's big fat Verdale olives soaking, a 4 litre jar done in a mixture of brine and white vinegar, and about a litre done V12 Spirits way.
I've barely scratched the surface of the mountain of high quality olives available to me, but that'll do for this year.
Sure wish I had an oil press.

[wotavidone]

Re: Olives Home-made

A question for Dino_Pizza and V12Spirit, being the resident olive experts.
One of my jars is making gas. It happens to be the jar I'm doing the V12Spirit way. I rinsed and slit my olives and put them in the jar with "floating egg" brine and poured some oil on top. No pre-soaking. The blasted olives keep floating to the top but I give the jar a shake up every couple of days to keep the olives wet with oil and brine.
Anyway it definitely looks like the whole thing is fermenting! Slight whiff of vinegar when the jar is opened, too.
Being brave, or maybe stupid, I tasted one tonight anyway. Expecting the thing to be "off" I was amazed to find it quite tasty, and 4 hours later I'm not dead yet.

The question is, is it unusual for olives to ferment? Does it happen when you soak them but you don't see because you change the water every day?
Should I throw them out?

EDIT: answered my own questions. Read the UCDavis info sheet again. I should be expecting bubbles for up to two months and might even take up to 6 months for the bitterness to reduce (depending on how bitter one likes his olives I guess).

[v12spirit]

Re: Olives Home-made

Haven't been on the forum for a couple of days. I'm just an amateur, but I can tell my experience that may assure your answer. As women devised the use of soda plastic bottles that could resist a slight gas pressure, it surely is because the olives will exhaust some gas. Moreover, the bottles solve the annoying problem of many olives keeping floating thanks to the bottle neck. However, opening the bottle could be challenging as the compressed gas wants to exit at once and should be done carefully and slowly. You don't want to open the bottle for the first two months, just open it when you are to consume it. I do use bottles but I would never recommend it as they are likely to explode even if nobody has reported that yet. You would better use jars with lids that allow gas to exit but not enter, or at least slightly seal the jar of the olives to minimize contact with air. The olives should smell fine. Eventually, you are pickling olives and it is natural to smell a lovely slightly vinegary smell, not a strong unpleasant one. My guess is that exposure to air causes the unpleasant smell if any, so try to fill the jar completely so that no room is left for air. To overcome the problem of the olives at the top oxidizing and darkening in color when using jars, cut a 3 cm thick sponge to the shape of the jar neck and put it on top before applying the lid. This forces the olives down while keeping them soaked in brine.
Try to capture the art of smashing olives. It really gives a different flavor than silted ones. Just gentle strokes with the help of half a brick maybe. The more fresh and totally green the olives the neater they smash up.
Don't throw the olives as they look good. Following Andrew Zimmern’s philosophy of bizarre foods: "If it looks good, eat it".

[Greenman]

Re: Olives Home-made

What I know about olives (other than eating them) you could fit on a postage stamp but would a plastic mesh on the top of the olives help keep them submerged and would an airlock (like those used for beer and wine making) in the lid help relieve pressure buildup?

[wotavidone]

Re: Olives Home-made

It's all working out well. I picked some more on the weekend. I'm doing them all the V12spirit way. Just slit 'em, still haven't mastered the stone/brick technique, and put them in a jar with brine. I now have 5 x 3 litre jars with olives at various stages. These jars were $5 each at the cheap shop, they have the clip down lids and rubber seals. If the pressure builds the seal leaks out the excess.
Two jars have olives that have been presoaked. The others are done straight in brine. I'm getting the light vinegar smell, other than that they smell like.....olives.
The first lot that I put down a la V12spirit recipe are now a month old. Just edible, very nice flavour but quite strong bitter after taste.
They have pretty much stopped making gas - another month and they'll be very good I think.
This weekend I put down some green/half ripe ones, and some black ones the same way. The green ones are fizzing a bit, the black ones - opening the jar is like opening a hot bottle of soda water.
Not how people say to do black ones, but it's an experiment. If it doesn't work, I've lost maybe an hours work and a couple tablespoons salt. The olives are free so what the heck.