Bottling Olives grown in our very own garden – simply delicious and rewarding

For all you olive lovers who feel that processing your own olives is too complicated … I say TRY IT!!
What is required is patience though if following my way of doing it; although I have seen faster ways on the internet I stick to my old tried and tested recipe.

The olives were picked off our tree in early April and placed into a bucket of fresh water. Every 24 hours replace the water with fresh water and do this for 6 or 7 days. Sort the olives and throw away any bruised or damaged ones. Dissolve 2 TBSP’s salt for every liter water into a large concealable container and add the olives. Seal tightly and leave in a dark cool place for 3 – 6 months depending how ‘bitter’ you like your olives

Patience, patience, patience … and then the day arrives. .. and for me that day was Thursday 07 October.

Remove lid from container and you should see a thick scum on top of the brine mix. This is perfectly normal. Remove the olives and rinse very thoroughly before covering with water and let stand for a day or two, replacing the water every 24 hours or so.

Our olive tree – 4 years old.

Plenty blossoms this year, weather permitting should be bumper crop.

Make the brine for storing in, simple ingredients as follows:-

• 500ml’s water
• 100ml’s vinegar (I used Brown Grape in this batch)
• 2 TBSP’s coarse salt

Brine ingredients…. I did not use the limes this time.

I am only bottling a few this year as we still have some from last year’s harvest

It is best to dissolve the salt in a bit of warm water before adding to the water and vinegar.

Important step… sterilize the bottles. My bottles have previously been washed with soap water. I add boiling water to the bottles and lids. You can also dry in warm oven after washing

Combine salt, vinegar and water and you are good to go !!

Damn, I forgot the tedious part of this task…. sorting the olives by hand. Check every olive for imperfections, damage, extreme sogginess etc. and remove the qualifiers for the bin or your compost heap

You do not want ONE bad olive spoiling the entire bottle !!

Pack olives into the bottles. At this stage you can get creative and add stuff you believe will enhance or add flavor such as Thyme, Garlic, Chilli etc. I have made a basic garlic flakes and Italian herb batch as I plan to marinade them before serving. Pour the brine to cover olives and top with olive oil to seal the olives in

Voila !!

In three weeks time…. Or three years time… these delicious olives will be available.

Store in a cool dark place until required

I hope you enjoyed the post … I enjoyed sharing!!