Salt & Brine Curing Methods for Olives

These recipes were emailed to me from ggda, a new member who has been invited to contribute authentic italian recipes to The Food Files - justafoodie

Excerpted from Lynn Alley’s book “Lost Arts”, Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, CA 2000:
(Comments in parentheses added by ggda)

DRY SALT CURE
The famous French Nyons olives (tiny, black, and pungent) are salt-cured olives. (As are small, black Mission, Lucca or ripe Arbequina olives.) They are not to everyone's liking, especially those of us born and raised on "finger" olives. They are a bit more fragile than the brine-cured olives, so you might want to make just a small number of them for openers. (We do 5 to 10 pounds at a time as well as 1-2 pounds – depending upon availability)

To dry-salt-cure olives, you must first find a clean pillowcase, (or clean food grade plastic bucket-see below) then make a drawstring top for it (Not actually necessary – tie the top with a stout string or wire.). Mix the olives with their own weight in non-iodized table salt, pickling salt, or rock salt. Pour them evenly into the pillowcase and cover them completely with more salt. You then need to put them someplace where any juice that drips from them will not stain. (Why not hang them in a tree?) (We hang them in a garage with a bucket or pieces of cardboard box under the pillowcase.)

Stir or mix them well once a week for four weeks (or until they lose their bitterness). When they are no longer terribly bitter, rinse them carefully and allow them to dry overnight. (They can also be dried in a single layer on trays in an oven set to the lowest heat- be careful not to dry them even more or they will become hardened.)
Then pack them in oil until you are ready to consume them. You may wish to serve them with a sprinkling of fresh herbs on top. (You can also add herbs to the oil and you store them with the herbs in the oil.)

(DISCLAIMER: There seems to be no agreed upon time that cured olives last, or when they are no longer suitable to eat. Some sources say keep under oil and eat within 2 weeks to a month. If one wants to keep the olives longer, one source, http://www.recipesource.com/misc/hints/00/rec0084.html, suggests the olives would keep for 6 months if the olives are kept in new salt, i.e. remove the curing salt, and re-salt with new clean salt, then pack in air tight jars.)

BRINE CURE
(This recipe is best for speckled or red olives. These have ripened somewhere between green (unripe) and black (ripe)

The brine cure is simple and safe, and it offers the most plausible response to my question about who first discovered that the olive was, given the right circumstances, edible. I suppose it's possible that, long ago, some olives fell into a saltwater tide pool and stayed undisturbed for a considerable length of time. Then one day, perhaps a housewife or fisherman, happened by to give one a try. Much to his or her delight, the olives had become pleasantly salty and quite edible. No doubt, she then took them home to her humble abode and, to her even greater delight, was able to duplicate the process. (The above part may better have started with “Once upon a time, but that’s just me” People still cure olives today in islands by dipping a basket of olives daily in the sea for 10 days. When the inner flesh is dark brown, the olives are ready.

To begin the brine processing, place your clean olives in cold water and change the water each day for 10 days. (I use plastic, covered buckets from a local restaurant supply.) (We have also found large glass crocks also work well. They can be found in a food supply store like Smart & Final) Weigh the olives down with a plate so they all stay submerged. No need to cover at this point. This will start leaching the bitter glucosides out of the olives. Notice the changes in both the color and aroma of the olives. At the end of the 10-day period, you can make a more permanent brine solution in which to continue the process. Add 1 cup of non-iodized salt to each gallon of water. Use enough of this brine to cover the olives.

(Some recipes call for a saturated salt solution at this point. A saturated salt solution is easiest made by measuring out the water needed, and gently placing a whole un-cracked egg in the water. Add the salt and stir – do not break the egg. The solution is saturated with salt when the egg floats. Some folks ask how high the egg should float. One measure is when the diameter of the egg above the water is about the size of a quarter.)

Change this solution weekly for four weeks. At the end of four weeks, transfer the olives to a weaker brine solution until you are ready to use them. The solution should contain ½ cup of non-iodized salt to each gallon of water.

Just how long it will take for your olives to become edible I cannot say. Mine seem to take about two or three months to really develop a rich, olivey flavor. The best piece of equipment you have for assessing when your olives are done is located between your nose and your chin. It doesn't cost much to maintain (outside of your of your biannual dental checkups), so use it! Store your olives in the weaker brine in a fairly cool place and keep them covered. A scum may form on the top olives, but according to my mother's Italian neighbors, this adds to the flavor of the olives! (One of my Italian sources says this is the "culture which consumes the bitterness of the olives.” Toss out the scum and use any olives that look unspoiled. (A squishy olive is a spoiled olive.)