Wash out bitter substances
Before you can marinate your freshly picked olives as you please, you must first make them edible and flush out the bitter substances. This is done by soaking the fresh olives in water, flushing out at least 10 days, but usually four to six weeks - depending on how bitter you like your olives. You should put the olives with their core in a plastic, glass or ceramic container, weigh them down with a plate and cover them with water. Put the container in a dark place and change the water daily. It is also important to cut or squeeze the olives several times before watering them.
also read
- Preserving olives correctly - this is how it works
- Better not to freeze olives
- Olives have a long shelf life if stored correctly
Preserving olives
Only when the olives have lost their bitterness can they be preserved. To do this, put the watered olives either in brine or in caustic soda.
You can prepare brine in the following way:
- Add 100 grams of coarse sea salt per liter of water
- as well as the juice and the grated zest of an (untreated) lemon.
- Bring the mixture to a boil and let it cool.
- Place the olives in a ceramic pot and fill them with the lye.
- Finish with a thick layer of olive oil. This prevents the penetration of germs and mold.
- Keep the pot in a cool and dark place.
Olives preserved in this way can be preserved for about one to two years. You can also add herbs, onions and garlic as well as chopped vegetables (carrot slices, cauliflower florets, etc.) to the lye.
Marinate for a delicious taste
After many, many weeks, the time has finally come: Your pickled olives are ready to be eaten. Before that you can marinate them vigorously, so you get pickled olives like with the Greek or Italian. You do not need to chop the vegetables or only roughly chop them, and the seasoned olives are marinated in either oil or vinegar. You should leave them in the marinade for about a week.
Ideas for delicious marinade (calculated for 500 grams of green or black olives each)
- Herbal and garlic marinade
(2 chilies, 4 sprigs of thyme, 3 sprigs of rosemary, 2 bay leaves, 4 cloves of garlic, top up with olive oil)
- Garlic and pepper marinade
(1 chopped onion, 1 chili, 1 diced red pepper, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 bunch of flat-leaf parsley, fill with olive oil. Mix in the diced sheep cheese before serving.)
- Olives in red wine vinegar
(chopped onion, 4 cloves of garlic, 5 bay leaves, 2 sprigs of rosemary, add 150 milliliters of red wine vinegar)
- Olives with capers and fennel
(80 grams of capers, 6 sprigs of thyme, 1 chili, 1 clove of garlic, 1 teaspoon each of oregano and fennel seed, a little pepper, pour olive oil on top)
Olives taste great with various dishes, with strong bread or in fresh salads. Anchovy fillets and sheep cheese go particularly well with it.
Tips & Tricks
Use empty plastic water bottles to water the olives - this makes daily water changes particularly easy.
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