How to Cure the Perfect Olives / Come curare le olive perfette / Cómo curar las aceitunas perfectas

[Music] we have two olive trees at our place we planted them 12 years ago so I've been picking and curing olives for about a decade I had no idea what I was doing in the beginning through trial and error a little research and a few conversations with local Italians I have settled on a method which works for me I must be doing something right because people seem to really like them I'm often asked what's involved so I'm gonna take you through how I go about it when the fruit ripen they change color from green to purple or black these are from the same tree when the fruit begin to change color it's time to start picking although my trees are different varieties I cure and jar them mixed together these are kalamata olives you can tell by the pointy tip on them a good crop this year it's the third time I'm picking from the tree as they begin to ripen but it's still firm I'm not too fussed if they're green when I picked them as long as they're full size fully ripe olives are softer and can end up a little mushy after curing it's best to pick them before they get too ripe this year my trees have cropped well too many for me to process in one go so I'll pick the olives as they ripen over a few weeks and do them in batches if you have a small crop you may want to clear them all at once it's a good idea to place your picked olives into water as soon as possible this minimizes dehydration of the fruit it's common for olive trees to produce a small crop one year and a large crop the next for no apparent reason they can go a season or two without producing fruit at all my kalamata bears fruit every year but the other tree I have skips a year here and there I think the varieties are Burkina the trees in these shots were pruned and thinned as I picked the first couple of batches which is why they look a little sparse olives contain phenolic compounds including all European which make the fruit inedible and is why we need to cure them if you've ever tried an olive straight from the tree you'll know how bitter they are if you are removing the pips you will need this simple tool which you can buy online or at a kitchen store it's like a hole punch so essentially you just pick up an olive goes in a little stir it there and you just press down and it comes out Pitt over a bucket to catch the stones and under sized olives drop the pitted olives into a bucket of water pitting takes the same time as slicing but removing the pits has a few advantages sliced olives will take six to seven weeks to cure pitted olives cure in only two to three weeks as the brine gets to more surface area of the olives using less salt in the curing process more olives fit in a jar when they are pitted meaningless jars defined and clean I think they are nicer to eat without having to bite around the stone some people work them with a hammer a little violent for me I've not tried it if you have a lot of ollies this part will take a while which is why I do them in batches time to get to it [Music] once you've finished beating or slicing rinse them off and it's time to cure at one and a half cups of salt per ten liter bucket of Olives and fill with tap water allowing enough room to submerge them be sure to mix well as the salt will settle to the bottom salt is important as a preservative during fermentation it's important to keep them submerged and this is where you get a plate that's the right size for the container and I go the extra step to help minimize contamination if you don't have a bucket with a lid place a bin bag over the top and seal it off as best you can to reduce contact with the air fermentation will begin straightaway so here's my four drums a plate one week apart as they were coming right this is three days after picking you can see the amount of stuff that gets given off and now we keep then we use two hands to do this you can see how much gunk it gives off in the first week you've got to change the brine three times I find after that first week it slows down you can see they start to pay al off and you can see there's hardly any strange floaties in there you know it's just pretty much the olives in this one and they've really all darkened off so I do a mix of ripe and unripe it's basically about size so as long as they're big enough to fit when they get too small they're just too hard to deal with in the first week change the brine every two days pour out the brine rinse once add salt and mix through after week one this only needs to be done once a week until they are ready not ready this batch has been in for three weeks I'm just going to do a little taste test just try green one so all the bitterness is gone it's time to put them into jars give your olives one last rinse we don't want them too salty you can see here how the olives change color in the curing process freshly picked on the right and three weeks of curing on the Left ready to jar wash your jars thoroughly in hot soapy water and rinse well use a small strainer to put them into jars the olives will take on flavors from whatever ingredients you sealed them with and they need to be in the jars for two weeks to take on these flavors before you eat them my favorite is simple but tasty add half a teaspoon of mixed herbs per medium size jar and one tablespoon of white wine or red wine vinegar be sure to choose a good wine vinegar the jars need to be filled with a weak brine third of a cup of salt to two liters of water I use filtered water use hot water or heat it 10 minutes on high in my microwave is perfect it's important the brine is warm to hot when you put the lids on which seal the jars as they cool leave enough room to top off with virgin olive oil this acts as an extra barrier and dresses the olives nicely when you serve them get those lids on while they're still warm [Music] simple labels with batch and date will help you keep track two weeks in the jar and they are ready to eat to mix things up you can add lemon herbs garlic chili whatever you choose you can also dress them when you serve in commercial olive production they often use caustic soda to rapidly cure them it leaves a residual taste and removes flavors from the olive you will find the method I've shown you here will taste so much better once you've cleared all the olives from a tree it's important to prune it to encourage new growth for next season don't let them get too tall trim the tops as high as you can reach with your ladder I prune them in the shape of a wine glass to allow light to get into the tree you may also need to thin out some of the undergrowth it's been a great season my two trees have produced over 200 medium-sized jars of Olives I'm really pleased with the results I'm getting I hope you get great olives too thanks for watching please like and share this video [Music] [Music] you [Music]

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Id: Hs22pgMltjg

Length: 10min 13sec (613 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 05 2020