Today's pick

Today's pick

Sunshine in a jar - Hand picked olives in olive oil

These are the delightful olives I picked on Barbara’s olive trees. I cannot thank her enough. Being able to cure my own olives is such an exciting journey. I divided the olives in 2 batches: I used Barbara’s method to cure the 1^st batch and I crushed the second batch with a brick. What a good way to get rid of your stress! Take a handful of olives and bang! Hit them hard with a brick wrapped in cloth. 

Crushing olives, breaks down the flesh and helps getting of bitter juices faster. The above olives have been crushed 3 weeks ago and are now bathing in olive oil and rosemary as per Barbara’s method. I have another lot in a brine made of vinegar, water and salt. I bought Maille red wine vinegar for the occasion. It is a French vinegar that has been aged in oak barrels.

It is too early to tell if they are any good yet.

The first batch I poked with a knife is still bitter to taste.

There are so many methods available in books and internet. It is hard to know which one to use. Assessing how long olives should be kept in brine is also tricky. I do not want my olives to taste bitter but leaving them for too long may result in getting rid of all the natural flavours.

What to do, what to do?

Hopefully, they’ll turn out nice – maybe not all of them but I should, statistically end up with at least one decent batch to nibble on. I will use the not so good ones in meat dishes. I am mouthwatering thinking about the yummy chicken tajines, veal marengo and duck casseroles. Heaven!