In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[quote=alan h;100865]try
[url=http://www.cs.sun.ac.za/~rdodds/Olives/indeks.html]Olive pickling and preserving[/url]
,[/quote]
Cheers for that............I think that it covers everything :yes:
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
The way that I have been told to preserve olives for eating later is very much more simple - but not so technologically accurate or advanced.
Firstly, once you have collected the olives for preserving, you should spread them out on the floor somewhere clean for a couple of days. During that time, you must turn them and generally move them to allow the air to dry them out a little - to cure them. Then, after removing any damaged (very important) olives, or any olives that, basically, you wouldn't put in your mouth, you put them into a large vat or container. This you fill with sea water, making sure that the water completely covers the olives*. Give the vat a shake every now and then to move the olives in the water - not precise I know, but just bear in mind that the olives should be kept "on the move", as it were. The hard work is changing the water every day - but it must be done. After a couple of weeks, you should start taking the odd olive out of the vat and taste it. If it tastes bitter, keep going. If it tastes sweet then you can move on to the next stage - bottling. By "bottling", I really mean putting in jars - or "jarring", I suppose. This stage is best done using clean, fresh drinking water into which you add quite a reasonable load of salt - together with the herbs that you fancy - and some fresh pieces of lemon. Experiment with the herbs to find something that you like - it is very personal.
The last part of the process needs sun - plenty of sun. The bottles filled with olives in the brine that you made should now be put into the sun for at least a week of bright sunshine. Turn the jars regularly to ensure that the sun gets to every part of the jar. This has a scientific basis insofar as the sunlight actually removes the last nasty bacteria that may be in with the olives. It is important that the jars actually get sunshine, not just daylight.
If you see some muffa on the top of the liquid in the jars - so long as the olives themselves are covered with your liquid - don't worry, it only adds to the flavour, I'm told.
That is the old-fashioned way of preserving olives - no chemicals at all, just sea water and sun.
*the olives used to be put into baskets and dropped into the sea with a stone on top to keep them under water - not so easy nowadays unless you have a cliff-front property, I think.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Nardini method seems OK to me except that I have seen pricking the olives with a fork recommended and together with a couple of changes of the salty water. The salt water is deemed to be strong enough when a fresh egg floats in it. Sea water is not available to everyone, and ordinary salt is OK though I guess you could use sea salt as a close substitute - beware do not use sea salt with winter green added and recommended for soaking the feet!
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
I tried a recipe close to Nardinis and did float a fresh (unshelled!) egg in it to test the salt, I thought I had followed it to the letter, but after all the effort it was horrible, salty and unedible, wont try this year they can all go to the press.
A
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
I got a really simple "recipe" from a book I picked up in the local newsagents.
Pick the olives
Make up a brine solution with 100g of salt to 1 litre of water. Let it cool
Stick the loives into clean jars
Cover with brine
leave for at least 4 weeks
I did my first lot 3 weeks ago so come my bonfire party in 2 weeks we should know whether or not it has worked!
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[quote=Angie and Robert;100902]I tried a recipe close to Nardinis and did float a fresh (unshelled!) egg in it to test the salt, I thought I had followed it to the letter, but after all the effort it was horrible, salty and unedible, wont try this year they can all go to the press.
A[/quote]
Try this perhaps .... seems easy enough??
Recipe for Preserving Olives
Olives can be preserved green or black. A black Olive is a ripe Olive. Usually green Olives are Pickled and black olives are pressed for oil. As some of the fruit start to get a purple-black tinge to them, it is time to pick your green olives for pickling.
Gather up fruit and rinse in water.
Place Olives on a clean, hard surface and bruise the fruit with a rolling pin. Pricking them with a fork works well too. Bruising or pricking them helps the salt and water to penetrate the fruit.
Put them in a bucket of water with half a cup of cooking or coarse salt per 10 cups of water.
Place a lid (breadboard) on top of the bucket to help keep the Olives submerged.
Pour the water out each day and replace with fresh salted water.
Continue this for about 12 days for green olives, or 10 days for black olives.
To test the Olives, bite one.
When the bitterness has nearly gone the Olives need one more final salting.
Pour off the last of the salted water and measure it so you will know how much salt brine will be required. Measure out that same quantity of warm water into a pot and dissolve the salt at the ratio of - 1 cup salt to 10 cups water. Boil this and allow to cool.
Place 0lives in jars or bottles and then pour the salty brine over the fruit until covered.
Top the jars or bottles up with a centimetre of Olive Oil. This stops air getting in and seals the lids down.
The Olives will keep for up to 12 months in the cupboard.
Before eating, drain off the salty brine and fill the bottles with cool water.
Refrigerate for 24hours.
If after this time they are still too salty to taste fill the bottles with hot water and refrigerate again for 24 hours.
Once the correct salt level is reached you can add extra flavours like basil, capsicums, garlic and lemon juice.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
No-one seems to have mentioned soaking the olives in soda first, it may seem silly but I believe its caustic soda the same stuff that clears drains, I will check what it says on the container and get back tomorrow.
They all seem to do it that way around here before the brine treatment.
mind you, 10 different people = 10 different methods.
Just found this link, look at posts 10 & 11
[url]http://www.italymag.co.uk/forums/gardening-agriculture/5425-more-olive-problems-2.html[/url]
And this one
[url]http://www.italymag.co.uk/forums/food-drink/5100-olives-eating.html[/url]
Stribs
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[quote=HelenMW;100922]I got a really simple "recipe" from a book I picked up in the local newsagents.
Pick the olives
Make up a brine solution with 100g of salt to 1 litre of water. Let it cool
Stick the loives into clean jars
Cover with brine
leave for at least 4 weeks
I did my first lot 3 weeks ago so come my bonfire party in 2 weeks we should know whether or not it has worked![/quote]
Hi Helen..............did it work ?
try
[url=http://www.cs.sun.ac.za/~rdodds/Olives/indeks.html]Olive pickling and preserving[/url]
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