I grew up watching my grandparents on both sides of the family, can all kinds of produce besides just tomatoes. Vegetables were marinated and jarred for the winter. Peaches were peeled and halved in a sugary syrup. My family would also cure olives. They were jarred in a salty brine and cured for months. In the last few years since I retired from my life in the restaurant, I have had time to relive my upbringing. I kept seeing raw green olives at Adams Fairacre Farms, our local farm market. I decided to try to cure my own olives. One year I tried the saltwater brine version, while changing the water for months and fretting every time I forgot to! So, then the next year I found an easy recipe that cured olives in vinegar and to let it sit in extra virgin olive oil for 2 months. The olives were delicious! And what was surprisingly good was even the oil from the olives. My family and I just loved spreading it on crusty Italian bread! I couldn’t wait to do it again this year. I decided to share my olive curing journey and hope you will try a hand at it too since olives are in season.
Cured Green Olives
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds fresh green olives
1 carrot, finely dices
2 stalks of celery, finely diced
1 qt white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of sea salt
½ cup water
Extra Virgin Olive Oil to cover the olive
Procedure:
STEP ONE
Wash and dry the olives making sure they are all firm and no bruises. It’s if your green olives have a slight purplish tint. They are just beginning to ripen.
STEP TWO
Make 4 incisions lengthwise on each olive spacing evenly.
STEP THREE
Place olives in a bowl or large jar. Whatever you use make sure it’s not reactive. Add celery and carrots. Then add the salt, water and vinegar solution to cover all the olives.
STEPS 4-6
- Mix well and add a paper napkin on top to keep olives submerged.
- Stir the contents in the bowl once or twice a day.
- After 4 days the olives should have darkened slightly and become soft but not mushy. If they are still hard wait another day.
STEPS 7-8
- After 4th or 5th day drain olive mixture in a colander. Toss to get rid of all the liquid.
- Put the drained olive mixture in a clean jar or jars and cover the olive oil mixture with the extra virgin olive oil. The olives need to be completely submerged in the olive oil.
STEPS 9-10
- Place the jar of olives in a cool dark place. I put mine in the fridge! Let them rest for 2 months before tasting.
- The olives will have a pleasant vinegary taste. And don’t throw out the extra virgin olive oil. It’s delicious! Since it’s in the fridge it will thicken like butter and you can spread it like butter!! Yum!