Fresh Olives?

Marketplace on Oakton has fresh ripe olives for sale, and I just couldn't resist...though I know not one thing about how to use them. I chatted up the cashier, and she said that she soaks them in several changes of water to leach out the bitterness for several days, without salt...but that's as far as I got.

Anybody know how to use these, and have a better idea of the soaking process?

Can be fun! Here's the U. Calif pub:

http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/InOrder/S ... temNo=8267


and here's another nice site:

http://homecooking.about.com/library/we ... rining.htm

Keep us posted on your progress!

Geo

Check this article in the NY Times. I think there is an associated recipe

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9507E3DF1E3BF934A25753C1A9619C8B63

U.C. Davis has a couple different ways of curing raw olives. You can see both a lye-cure and an oil cure here.

There's a PDF available with a lot more methods here.

And whichever method you use - lye cured or brine cured- refrain from doing what I did, namely taking a bite of a raw green olive just to see what it tastes like. It was a terrible experience and it took the entire day to get rid of the bitter astringent taste in my mouth!

Jyoti

It might be instructive to taste a raw olive. (I don't believe this is dangerous in any way, but I am not 100% certain.) I once did this and got a lot more than I bargained for on a hillside in Cyprus. "Bitter" does not come close to describing an uncured olive. (This sort of discovery was not a new experience, however, after the Romanian hot pepper that made my upper lip tingle for three days.)

Such a experiment always inspires respect for our ancestors. It makes one marvel at the early humans that were brave and smart enough to convert olives and acorns into foodstuffs. For some reason, I start to muse about this sort of thing at Thanksgiving.

Good luck with your project!

jygach wrote:And whichever method you use - lye cured or brine cured- refrain from doing what I did, namely taking a bite of a raw green olive just to see what it tastes like. It was a terrible experience and it took the entire day to get rid of the bitter astringent taste in my mouth!

LOL! Jyoti-- Great LTH minds think alike! I didn't see your post before I submitted mine, but this is exactly what I am getting at! Still, I think MHays is up to the challenge.

Note, the Caputo's on Harlem in Elmwood Park also sells fresh olives now.

Vital Information wrote:Note, the Caputo's on Harlem in Elmwood Park also sells fresh olives now.

Yep, they seem to regularly have them this time of year. I, too, made the mistake of eating one raw. Truly disgusting stuff.

I just put down some green and ripe olives. For the ripe olives, I put them in a jar with equal weight of salt (non-iodized salt should be used, don't ask me why but all my research online specified non-iodized salt). Don't pack them too tight, you need to give them a good shake daily. When the salt is thoroughly wet, drain, rinse, pack in a jar with olive oil, some garlic cloves, peppercorns, and some slices of fresh lemon. You need to keep them in the fridge. They are ok to eat coming right off the salt cure, but will benefit from the other treatment.

I followed the NY Times recipe for my first batch of green olives, replacing the celery with fresh fennel. Not sure what I'll do with the second batch.

BTW, the ripe olives shrink a fair bit from the salt cure.

Josephine wrote: Still, I think MHays is up to the challenge.

OK, now you guys have me scared...of course, being me, and despite similar warnings on all the links, I was planning to do just that (though these are lovely and black, maybe not so bad?)

annieb, that sounds infinitely more reasonable than finding a crate and lining it with burlap and rock salt - I don't even think I have a pound of the things! As soon as I'm motivated here, I'll start processing and post pics.

Okily-dokily, here we go:

Here, why I couldn't resist buying them...I mean look at them, all fat and bursting with...preseumably...olive-y goodness

As promised, I nicked into the fattest and oiliest looking one:

Truthfully, I can see where it would be awful if they were green, or if I popped the whole thing in my mouth, but the little taste wasn't that bad...under the bitterness, there was that fatty lovely fruitiness of olive...
I so happened to have Greek sea salt from Marketplace on Oakton at hand:



And, because I liked the cognitive dissonace, I dumped olives and salt into an old Kochujang container:



and stashed in in the fridge. Will see how it goes...

Cool....now I want to try this too!

You've really got to admire someone who salt-cures olives with cognitive dissonance.