- Brine Cured Olives
olives
water
canning salt (regular salt makes a cloudy brine)
Wash, pick over olives. Nick all olives deeply lengthwise along
the olive. Put olives into container. Make up a brine in the
1/4 cup canning salt to
4 cups water
2 cups cold
water and 2 cup hot water is hot enough to dissolve salt, but cold
enough not to cook the olives). Make enough brine to completely
cover olives, weigh down the olives into the brine using a Ziploc
bag of water. Cover the container of olives, set on top of a
plate--the olive juice is brown and can stain your kitchen floor if you don't have protection. Soak olives in the brine for one
week, then change brine completely and faithfully once/week, stir
olives with a wooden spoon when you think about it (no biggie if
3 weeks, keep changing
brine until they are edible (not bitter). Mine are ready after
4-6 weeks.
If you get mold, yeast, etc, it is harmless if the olives are
covered in the brine. Just rinse your olives, pick out any rotten
olives, scald the container, make up fresh brine and rebrine your
olives.
After the olives have been brined, can add garlic cloves, hot
peppers, bay leaves, lemon, oregano, or almost anything. When you
add flavorings, should store olives in refrig. Olives in the salt
brine can be stored in their crock in a cool, dry place (the garage
would work fine).
