ecobites.com

Making your life greener - one bite at a time.

Do-it-yourself pickled olives will keep for about six months before they begin to soften. Assuming they stay in the bottle that long!

Enjoy, one bottle to eat and one to give as a gift. 

Ingredients are based on one kg of olives.

You will need:

Fat juicy green organic olives.

2 small to medium lemons - slice very thin, include rind but exclude pips.

6-8 garlic cloves - peel and chop very fine, or crush. Garlic is to taste, the more the merrier, within reason of course.

Oregano leaves - with fresh oregano use the stems as well. Chop very fine. If using dried oregano leaves then just crush them.

Celtic salt to taste.

Organic olive oil is optional.

Fresh water.

2 x 1 litre steralized jars with screw or spring caps.

Olives need to have the skins and flesh opened to allow the leaching of bitter properties. This is most easily achieved by placing each olive on a board and hitting it firmly with a bottle. Retain the seeds - you will find they are great to suck after the olive is eaten.

After cracking, place the olives into a bowl to two-thirds of the bowl's depth.

Cover the olives with plain water and stand the bowl in a cool dust-free place for 24 hours.

Pour off the water and replace it with fresh.

Repeat the proceedure three more times at 24 hour intervals.

Total soaking time is 4 days.

The olives will begin to ferment so there will be bubbles in the water.

Dark patches will begin to appear on the olives.

Prepare the pickling herbs.

Drain the last water from the olives.

Layer the olives with the herbs and salt.

Pour organic olive oil into each bottle to about a quarter of its depth.

Cover to the top with fresh cold water.

Seal the bottle.

Allow the olives to rest quietly in a cool dark place for a minimum of two weeks.

Open a bottle and check the taste.

Olives should be crunchy but not bitter.