Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Olive me, olive you

I bought some really beautiful olives this weekend at the farmer's market (at $10 for 2 pounds. Suckaa!). But better to get soaked by the hippie farmers than by Monsanto.

Anyone have advice to share about brining them? I'm planning to go the standard salt/garlic/chilies/peppercorn/bay leaf route, but I'd love some input. Anyone ever done an oil cure?

7 comments:

Jessica Battilana said...

I don't know nuthin' 'bout no olive curing (except that in some recipes they use lye) but I can report that Monsanto execs dined at Chez the other night. Which makes me think---what are they doing eating seasonal, local and organic food? Maybe they know something we don't about our tainted food supply?

Norman said...

I like olives with salad, pasta or cocktail drinks. not sure what to mix it with for a good meal.hope you get it to work with something

Gil Martinez, RGD said...

I've never cured olives, or seen it done, but I like the flavor of pickled ones better than the olice-cured variety. What would happen if you cured them in rice vinegar and soy sauce, like the pickled garlic we spoke about many years ago? I wonder...

Jon said...

Cool title. Your out of your funk....

Mone said...

Hi Amy, here an idea for you.
For one pound olives you take: one onion and two garlic gloves, cutt them in smal pieces. Take some oliveoil, heat it up and put the onion and the garlic in it, then you put two tablespoons Oregano in it and stirr it for about 5 minutes. After you let the oil cool down you put it throug a sifter over the olives. Let stand in cool spot at least for a week.

Amy Traverso said...

Hey, thanks Mone. I ended up starting the olives in a solution of 3/4 cup sea salt per 1 gallon of water (this recipe comes from UC Davis). They'll sit there for a week, and then I'll put them in a more concentrated solution for about two months (1-3/4 cups salt per gallon of water), replacing the brine every so often to keep things fresh.

Once they're sufficiently cured, they'll go into an herbed vinegar solution.

So that's my plan. I'll post an update or two as things develop.

Rachael Narins said...

Amy,
I have tried brine curing olives several times, and never had a good outcome. I even caved (by my standards) and tried lye curing last year (Sketchy! And who wants lye cured olives anyway?) and that was a bomb. Anyway, I hope you have more sucsess. Maybe Ill be inspired again. Good luck!