If you want black olives for curing, they are still available

https://www.greatolives.com/buy-gourmet-olives/index.php?route=product/category&path=38

$19 for a 10 lb  box; shipping is reasonable

Nice I have been keeping an eye out for them on that site. I called them maybe a week or two ago and asked when they would have them. They made it sound like it was way off in the distant future... I'm glad you posted this.

Thanks for this post . I used to buy the green Italian olives and brine them . I might have to look for a supplier of the green here in FL !

71GTO, glad I posted it then! Yeah sometimes they have to pull in or push out their schedule...so many variables [weather, precipitation, labor availability].

I love and grow olives!  While golfing a couple years ago, I noticed olives dripping off of all the trees, so we came there again for another round (armed with containers), and I picked while JD (men!  They can never just "Hit the ball."  Have to analyze from all sides....) did his thing!  Got about 10 lbs, and we brined them, added garlic, lemon slices and herbs, and WOW!  Still have so many jars!

I also got 2 cuttings from that golf course that are now 6' trees.  They just got pruned back to 4' due to lack of space.  Will be years before they produce, but I do so love the olives!

When I was a little girl, my mom used to make me olive sandwiches, which I loved!  White wonder bread, mayo, and diced olives.  Yummmmmmmm!!

Suzi

is it easy to propagate olive like figs? love those big black/green olives..

I'm going to have to look into an olive tree or two to plant here. Anyone know what variety is best to look for? Anyone know the name for the Italian green ?

Suzi any tips for growing olive trees? Do they need pollinators?

Pete, I nabbed about 10 cuttings, some side shoots that I ripped from the mother tree (tools not with me on golf course), and I didn't baby them.  They got all their leaves stripped except for the top leaf which got cut in half, then they went into regular dirt in shade that the sprinkler hits daily.  Out of 10, 2 made it and it took a couple months to see those little new leaves!  That was an awesome day.  Probably easier propagating in a greenhouse, but i personally know that these trees produce HUGE olives!  Don't know the variety or anything.  Happy to send you some cuttings!  Olives never go dormant.  UC Davis has cuttings, and they seem to like pollination.  Not worried about it here because almost everyone has one or two olives!

First they are green, then pink, then black.  Then they are on the sidewalk and you hear things like "%$#@!)^%#E^*!!!)

Suzi

Thanks! Can I ask where you get the big bags of sea salt? This is the first time trying black olives does size matter?

71GTO
The larger the olive, the more 'pulp' but also a larger pit.
Our local supermarket sells the large bags of rock salt in the front of the store, where they also display the water softener pellets. Just be sure you get 'real salt' and not something else!  I think it was $3.95 for the 50 lb bag.....MUCH cheaper than those 5 lb  boxes of rock salt in the condiments section of the store

Pattee.
If you want to plant olive trees, realize that they are very messy and the fruit stains surfaces and clothing, and plant them in a place where that won't be an issue. (Grandparents had a huge olive tree)


A caution for people harvesting olives they aren't growing themselves:  
Because olives are so messy, property owners often spray their olive trees with chemicals to prevent  (or better stated, reduce) olive production. I doubt these chemicals are healthy if ingested.

Cool, thanks. I ordered the smaller size I be safe. That's not salt for the sidewalks? I will see what we have around here. My wife's grandfather said to get sea salt. He is going to show me how he did it in the old country, lol. How do you store them and how long to they last? I'm reading they don't keep tht long. My inlaws have been making green olives for a long time and they keep for a long time.

Black ones need Lye.  Go find that!

Suzi

I saw some places mention using lye some say just salt. What does the lye do?

I've never used lye for black olives, but I've used lye for green olives...once.

It is easier in that the processing time is very short.
However, in addition to needing to protect yourself from the caustic lye, I think it strips out too much of the olive flavor.  And, all the water you use to rinse away the lye needs to be dumped down the drain.

In contrast, if you remove the bitterness from green olives by slicing them then soaking them in water, you can dump that water on outside plants. I have my olive soak buckets outside....when I change the water, I use that water to irrigate plants....so it is not wasted.



EDIT: After the bitterness is removed from the olives, I put them in a salt brine (enough salt so a raw egg floats) then plenty of lemon juice and vinegar, and can them in mason jars.

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/189607_5000208648119_579870705_n.jpg

Thanks! That is interesting I was just reading about the fresh water curing. We just use the salt water.

I love all kinds of olives! Last spring I bougt an olive tree named Arebequina. It is supposed to be hardy into zone 7 and living in zone 6 I will keep it in a pot and move it into my hoophouse in the winter. It set a couple dozen fruits this summer at only 2 feet tall but I removed them while they were small to keep the tree stronger. It is the only olive tree around so it was self pollinating. They are such beautiful trees and I hope to get a couple more of different varieties.

That sounds like a cool golf course.   You play and harvest at the same time.  I see some olive trees around here loaded with fruit.   Don't know what variety. They look kind of small and turn black.   The farmers market used to sell some small green olives marinated in lemon, garlic and maybe some chilies.   Got a good recipe to turn them from raw fruit to those yummy marinated ones. 

Hi Paulandirene.
Can you post the process in dry curing the black olives.
Vito

Hi Vito, here's what I do:


Dry curing black olives in rock salt

How it works:
The rock salt pulls the moisture out of the olives, concentrating the flavors.

What you want to achieve:

A condition in which the rock salt and olive mixture are in a container that will allow the moisture to drain away

What you want to avoid:

the rock salt and olive mixture spoiling because it is sopping wet  [because the moisture is not allowed to drain away]

Possible setups:

Simplest: 

Rock salt and olives in a burlap bag, set this inside a cardboard box that has been lined with a garbage bag, with newspapers or other absorbent materials between the burlap and garbage bag. As the moisture drains into the newspapers, toss them out and replace with dry newspapers

More involved:

two 'nested' bin containers, for example like the following:  http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41nThI69rBL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

The upper container needs holes in the bottom so the moisture can drain away and collect in the lower container (when the containers are nested, there should be at least an inch of space between the bottoms of the two containers).

Process

1

Make alternating layers of rock salt and olives [make the bottom and top layers rock salt]

2

Every few days, shake or move the container so the rock salt and olive mixture is redistributed. Because olives are less dense than rock salt, some will come to the top. Cover them up with rock salt.

3

Also every few days, check to see if there is any collected moisture. Clean it up [change newspapers or dump bin, etc.]

4

When the olives are shriveled to about what's shown below, try them.

http://independentvisions.org/fichera/af/images/olives-moroccan-dry.jpg

If you want to leave them in the rock salt longer [to further concentrate the flavors], please realize that the salt will continue to pull out the moisture until there is very little more than the pits and a tiny covering of olive pulp  (this happened to me a few years ago because I had to be out of town unexpectedly). So, don't forget about them!

5

When remove the olives from the rock salt, wash and let dry. You can store in the refrigerator.


I cannot tell you how long they last because they are in high demand by family and friends that they disappear immediately!  
(I gave out my entire last batch at the memorial service of my dad's best friend...he cured olives with his dad when he was small.)


They're great when mixed with a little olive oil and some spices like cumin.




NOTE:  
I don't reuse the rock salt for more olives, but since my family and friends make so much home made ice cream, we reuse the olive rock salt for that purpose.

Thank you very much, I love those olives and the green scaciate.(I just order two boxes)
Vito

Is a burlap bag something you can buy?

Hi 71GTO,

Burlap bags are ubiquitous here in New Mexico, because that's what our green chile peppers come in...but really I wouldn't know where to get just the bags!   (However, I just checked and do see them for sale online.)

Check out your local coffee grinders. They often discard their burlap bags. Paul, Whiting Coffee in town, usually has some nice quality bags they just give away if you ask.

Ill check that out thanks. I checked amazon since they sell everything. They have them.

At first, I skipped this thread because I have no interest in "making" my own olives.  I could just go to any Italian Deli, and buy all the olives I need.  But then I said..."let me just see what all the fuss is about"...

Fascinating process...and I never knew what to do with fresh olives, green, or, black.  When I was a kid, I tasted a green olive that dropped on the floor, and it was a taste that I will never forget.  The bitterest, bitter ever!  Horrible.  From then on, only commercially prepared Deli-olives.

But, now I know what to do to get them on an hors d' oeurves tray.

Thanks, for the step-by-step instructions.  Interesting reading.  (Willis Orchards sells Olive trees...caveat emptor)!

Frank