The simplest method is to put them in 10% w/v brine and leave them until they are ready. If you want a little more detail, read on or watch this quick video which demonstrates our 2.2L bucket.
If you want a lot of detail go to:
https://australianolives.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/12-100-Table-Olive-Production-Manual.pdf
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jfq/2018/3193185/
Picking table olives – When do I pick olives for preserving?
To make your own table olives, start with ripe olives.
Olives can be picked at varying stages of ripeness. As they ripen they soften, yield when pressed and change colour.
When you choose to pick will depend how you choose to process them, it will affect their flavour and how long they can be stored for and how long they will stay firm. The more purple/black they get, the sweeter they will be but also the texture may be softer.
Some varieties are best picked green, others as they change to purple, others when they turn a dark purple/black.
Olives are best hand picked to avoid bruising and using a canvas bag.
Once picked we transfer them to buckets with some water in them to avoid bruising on transfer.
We fill the buckets with water and this makes it easy to remove the leaves, sticks, bugs and any damaged/diseases or rotting olives. To be honest it’s quite therapeutic sorting through the olives to remove the leaves.
The olives are then rinsed (the grates with the fermentation kits come in good use for this as strainers) and then left submerged under water until the brine is ready.
Olive curing recipe – How do you preserve olives? How do you make brine?
There are lots of olive curing and preserving recipes out there. A lot of them involve the arduous process of slitting olives and changing water or brine for days/weeks on end. It works but it’s not that practical for larger quantities of olives.
The following method has worked well for us, produces a tasty naturally fermented product using lacto-fermentation enjoyed by our friends and family.
- Place fresh rinsed ripe whole olives in fermenter pails submerged under water until brine is ready.
- Prepare 10% w/v brine (100 grams of noniodised salt to 1 litre of water). Boil the water with the salt until all dissolved and then allow to cool until at room temperature. As an estimate the 20L fermenter pails require 10L of brine for 10kg of olives, the 5L fermenter pails 2-3L brine for 2.5kg olives and the 2.2L fermenter pails 1-1.5L of brine for 1kg olives. It’s better to make more brine than less.
- Ensure pails are clean (sodium percarbonate is a good option) particularly if they have had a prior life and ideally use a no rinse sanitiser (available in home brew stores ). When cleaning pails soak and use a soft sponge to avoid scratching plastic.
- Drain the water from the pails using the grate over the top to stop the olives falling out, and fill pails to the top with the brine, keep ing olives under the surface of the brine using the mesh/grate (the flat bit of the grate should be placed facing downwards), and place the lid and airlock in place. The flotation of olives will push the mesh against the lid so ensure brine is as close to the top of the pail without spilling over.
- Fit the airlock in place filling the middle part half full with brine or cooled boiled water.
- The olives will take at least 6-12 weeks to cure/ferment depending on size and preparation choice. Check them from time to time and you may wish to remove any scum from the surface.
- They are ready when there is no remaining bitter taste. They will be salty but should not be overly bitter. The colour of the olives will have changed to a dull brown or purple/black during the natural fermentation depending on the olives and level of ripeness at picking. Don’t expect them to be bright green (these are lye cured) or all black (these often have iron salts etc added in the process to give them that colour).
- Once ready you can take as many as you need at a time using a strainer and then place the grate and lid back over to keep them submerged. They can be stored in the brine for a long time, just taking what you need each time. You may need to top up the brine or transfer to a smaller pail as you take them out.
- Place the olives in a bowl of fresh water for a day or so to reduce the salt content and then drain. They are ready to eat or for your favourite flavours to be added (try a little olive oil, red wine vinegar, oregano, chill and bay leaves and place in fridge, or submerge them under fresh brine or olive oil with added flavours in a jar).
- If you want to jar the olives up for storage try to allow at least 6 months fermentation in the pails first; after 6 months place the olives in a sterilised jar and then cover with a solution made of 4 parts freshly made 7-8% brine and 1 part wine vinegar and store in a cool place away from direct sunlight.