Posted on 10 Comments

How to Prepare Olives For Preserving | Part 1 | Home Grown | Preserving Adventures

Guess what we were given today!!?

Mom and Dad gave us a bucket full of olives from their tree to preserve.

First thing I did was to sort them out into 3 categories

Greens, Mixed [Green and Black] and Black.

I had to painstakingly cut 4 slits in the olives. They were too beautiful to bash like my 1st batch.

I decided to do the green ones 1st as they need a longer time in the brine.

Click “Continue reading ” or scroll down to see the steps.

Enjoy,
Grace-yi

The green olives in a salt brine
The green olives in a salt brine

How to Prepare Olives For Preserving [Removing the bitterness]

The Green Olives were 2.477 kg
The Green Olives were 2.477 kg

Ingredients:

  • 900 ml Water
  • 100 g Salt

Directions

  1. Sort out the olives into 3 different categories
  2. Wash the olives
  3. Make 4 slit in the olives with a knife
  4. Put the cut olives into big glass jars
  5. Combine in a pot and heat up till dissolve

900 ml Water
100 g Salt

6) Once dissolved pour the brine solution into the glass jars and make sure the olives are submerged. One way to do that is to use glass things. this time I’ve used glass candle holders and ramekins.

To make sure it makes a tight seal [aka make sure the olives are under the water. One way to do that is put a thin layer of olive oil

Check back in 7 days.. Taste the olives and see if they are to your liking. If they are not, rinse and repeat steps 5 to 6 until they are to the level of bitterness you like.

10 thoughts on “How to Prepare Olives For Preserving | Part 1 | Home Grown | Preserving Adventures

  1. Like to understand the ned for the cuts?

    1. Hi Goldie, it is so that the brine can infuse inside faster and leech out the bitterness

    2. Hi Grace, when you heat up the brine and dissolve the salt do you cool the brine before you add it to the jars with the olives

      1. Hi Frank,

        Sorry for the late reply. I don’t heat it up too much, just enough to dissolve the salt. I do use it warm and it seems fine.

        Hope this helps,
        Grace-yi

  2. Sounds good! We did this once but kinda forgot about he olives. After about 2 or 3 weeks we finally checked them and they just tasted like salt. 🙁

    1. Hi Bennett,

      Hmm.. I think you can still save it by soaking them in water and replacing the water daily till the olives are less salty.

      Or you could use the olives as a “salty” element in your cooking in replacement for salt:)

  3. I soak mine in salt and change it everyday or two for 2-3wks usually once the olives have lost their bitterness. I then bring to boil in water, cool, them put in sterilised jars with basil leaves, oregano, garlic and chillies, then cover with olive oil, put in a dark place for up to 6mths. Very yummy!

  4. I just did some too but thought you had to just soak in fresh water and rinse every day for 2 weeks. I got this from a website, unfortunately my first batch wasn’t good – I threw them, and the rest, well I’m not sure yet. I’m about to soak them in brine. I fear i have ruined the lot 🙁 doh!!

    1. Hi Cottage dream,

      there are many ways to leech the bitterness out. The way I do it saves time and water. what happened to your 1st batch?

      if your 2nd batch is looking and tasting fine but just bitter, it should be ok to try my recipe. Perhaps not for as long though. Taste it every few days to see if you like the taste.

      also seal the top with oil to try stopping it going bad.

      Hope that helps,
      Grace-yi

Leave a Reply to Goldie CrystalBrook Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *