Olive Pickling 101

Ever wondered how to pickle olives at home? Here is a foolproof method you can use to ensure you have an abundance of artisan olives for christmas! All you need is an olive tree. If you don't have an olive tree (and you live in Perth, Australia) then take a walk down Solomon St in Fremantle during Autumn, and you will have all the olives you need. If you live elsewhere, then find out whether your gardening friends have any olives. Olive trees are known to yeild a tonne of fruit, so there is always plenty to share.

MATERIALS

1. Buckets or containers

2. Salt

3. Glass jars

STEP 1. HARVESTING

Harvest your olives. If you have a Kalamata olive tree, you can pluck olives while they are green or super ripe (dark purple). You can either pluck the olives by hand or strip each branch clean using two hands. If you choose to harvest using the latter method, then place a large box at your feet to catch the olives when they fall.

STEP 2. PREPARE OLIVES FOR BRINING

Wash the olives and then pit or slit them before you transfer them to a container. It is not necessary to pit/slit the olives, but if you do, it will speed up the brining process. The brining process removes bitterness from the olives.

STEP 3. PREPARE BRINE

Brine solution:

Mix 1/4 cup of salt with 2 litres of water

Pour the brine over the olives until they are all covered. If your olives are in a bucket, place a plate over the top of the olives to keep them submerged. You do not want your olives coming into contact with air. After your olives have been covered with the brine, secure a cloth over the olive container to keep everything nice and clean while they sit for a few days.

STEP 4. CHANGING THE BRINE

Now all you have to do is keep an eye on the olives and change the brine every few days or so. I got away with changing the brine every weekend with no catastrophes. If you find a layer of blue bacteria growing on the top of your olive brine, don't have a heart attack - this is absolutely normal. Just skim off the bacteria and change the brine. You will know when to stop changing the brine and begin pickling, as soon as your olives taste palatable. This could take a month or two, depending on how you prepared the olives for brining (whether you slit/pitted them or left them as is). I didn't slit or pitt mine and it took a month and a half to remove the bitterness (about six brine changes).

STEP 5. PICKLING THE OLIVES

Rinse all your olives thoroughly and transfer them into steralised jars. To steralise your jars just submerge them in water that has just been boiled. Now you need to prepare the pickling juice, which contains water, salt and vinegar.

Pickling solution:

Mix 1/4 cup salt with 1 litre of water and 1/2 cup of vinegar

Transfer the olives to your jars. At this stage you can add in herbs (like rosemary, dill and sage), peppercorns, chilli, red onion slices and whole cloves of garlic to the mixture to create some extra flavours. After you are happy experimenting, pour over the pickling solution until all the olives are covered. Then pour some olive oil on top of everything to create a seal that will stop air from contacting the olives. Secure the lids tightly.

YOU ARE DONE!