The Art of Curing Olives at Home: A Step-by-Step Guide

Curing olives is a time-honored tradition that transforms the bitter fruit into a delectable, savoury treat. While store-bought olives are readily available, there’s a unique satisfaction in crafting your own at home. In this guide, we’ll walk you through a simple yet rewarding process to cure olives, bringing out their rich flavors and turning them into a culinary delight.

Ingredients and Equipment:

• Freshly picked olives
• Coarse salt (for the salt solution)
• Water
• Additional flavorings (optional)
• Olive oil
• Sterilized jars, lids, and utensils

The Curing Process:

1. Washing the Olives: Begin by washing your freshly picked olives thoroughly. Remove any dirt or debris, ensuring a clean starting point for the curing process.

2. Making the Salt Solution: Create a salt solution by dissolving 3% coarse salt in water. This solution will be the key to transforming the olives into a savory delight.

3. Submerging Olives: Place the washed olives in a tub and cover them completely with the salt solution. If possible, weigh them down with a plate or similar item to ensure full submersion.

4. Initial Soaking (3 Days): Allow the olives to soak in the salt solution for three days. After this period, drain the olives onto a concrete surface where possible, allowing the salt water to evaporate. Its best not to put saltwater down the drains, especially if you have an off grid system.

5. Rinsing and Repeating: Repeat the soaking, draining, and rinsing process three times in the initial weeks. Afterward, you can stretch the intervals to one and two weeks, respectively.

6. Patience Pays Off: Continue this process for at least three months, tasting the olives periodically to gauge bitterness. The duration may extend up to six months, but the reward lies in the eventual elimination of bitterness and the emergence of delightful fruitiness.

7. Preparing for Jarring: To jar up your olives, create a new salt solution at about 2% concentration and bring it to a boil.

8. Sterilizing Jars and Utensils: Ensure the jars, lids, and utensils are thoroughly sterilized to maintain the integrity of your olives.

9. Flavoring and Jarring: Place the cured olives in the jars, leaving some headspace. Add any desired flavorings, and then fill the jars with the hot salt solution. Top the remaining headspace with olive oil to prevent air from entering, and seal the jars with the sterilized lids.

Our number one flavour is to add a clove of garlic and some dried chilli. We’ve started using chilli flakes, which isn’t as attractive as a complete dried chilli but the flakes give a better flavour profile. Lemon rind or Rosemany and Orange rind are another of our favourites. Natural is also a winner.

Conclusion: Curing olives at home is not just a culinary journey; it’s a testament to patience and craftsmanship. With a few simple steps and quality ingredients, you’ll soon savour the fruits of your labor—a jar of perfectly cured olives ready to elevate your culinary adventures. A glass of wine and your own home cured olives is a grand reward at the end of a weeks work.