Comments on: Brine Curing Green Olives for the Best Flavors

By: Eatin's Canada

Eatin's Canada — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 05:02:06 +0000

In reply to Karri. On the advice of the Island Health Authority, I do suggest using a bit of vinegar in the water process to achieve a safe PH, but only until it is brined. Next year I'm going to split the batch and try half with lye and half straight brining it. Leaving the vinegar on for an extended time doesn't sound right to me. The way to rescue those, is to make them into a tapenade. I envy you having your own olive tree. It's marginally possible in my region, but mine died last year when the roof on the shelter collapsed.

By: Karri

Karri — Sun, 22 Dec 2024 16:38:27 +0000

With regard to the inclusion of vinegar, the first recipe I found online (and used) was a vinegar brine. The suggestion was that the green olives needed to sit in a vinegar brine for 3-4 months. While I did most of my olives that way, I also did a small amount using lye as a comparison. The lye cured olives were ready in about 10 days and were extremely salty, but had the requisite “olive” flavor you might find in store or deli purchased olives. The vinegar cured olives tasted way too much like vinegar, and needed more like 6 months of brining. Even then, they were too much like vinegar to my taste. My solution was to combine the vinegar and lye brines together at about 4:1 in each of the jars where I had placed the vinegar brined olives. That really helped and made both the vinegar and lye brined olives edible and quite tasty.
Neither receipe called for slicing the olives before placing them in the brine.
Based on this recipe, I’ll try the water method next year and see how it compares. I like that absence of vinegar and the mild about of salt, which strikes me as a good balance.

This year, I waited until the olives turned black before removing from the trees and salt brining. For these, I poked each with the tines of a fork before brining. After about 3 weeks, I’ve removed them from the salt and am getting ready to place them in jars. Again, no prior experiences, so I’m testing them with a combination of olive oil pack and water with some vinegar as a way to remove some of the saltiness. I’ll post again when I’ve got results.

By: Eatin's Canada

Eatin's Canada — Fri, 29 Oct 2021 00:10:48 +0000

In reply to Chris. Thank you, that's a great tip!

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 28 Feb 2021 07:47:23 +0000

A squeeze of lemon juice in the water that you place the olives in as you are scoring them helps prevent the slashes oxidizing and going brown.

By: Eatin's Canada

Eatin's Canada — Sun, 03 Dec 2017 19:36:53 +0000

One other thing: The brine from the olives makes an excellent marinade base, especially for chicken and pork.

By: Eatin's Canada

Eatin's Canada — Sun, 03 Dec 2017 19:34:06 +0000

In reply to Samantha Easley.

I’m a bit puzzled.

If I read you correctly, it seems that you used a fresh brine every day for 30 days. Also that this brine included vinegar.

I’m not sure what the vinegar is going to do to the flavour of the olives as it’s not a normal inclusion in my olive brine.

I do see it in other recipes online after googling just now though, so although it strikes me as a new-world inclusion I suppose that there are people with a taste for it. After a month, the flavour will be pretty much in there, so hopefully, you’re a fan.

The purpose of the water bath is to leach out tannins. So as long as you are changing and throwing the water out daily, plain is fine and much less costly and wasteful.

Recipes I have read suggest a month of extraction, I like the suggestion of tannins, so do not go past 10 days of discarding water.

To your question: I personally would suggest making a brine that was as described in the recipe, which is salt and water only, and does not include vinegar, then keep your olives in this solution…but that’s how I like my olives and does not seem to be the method you’ve followed.

If you like the taste that the vinegar gives the olives, you should simply leave them in the current brine. Make sure of course that the olives are weighted down, so that they are completely submerged.

By: Samantha Easley

Samantha Easley — Sun, 03 Dec 2017 19:03:21 +0000

So for a month I have been brining my green olives with 1/2 cup salt 1 cup vinegar and 8 cups water i didnt do the plain water now how do i can them I have changed brine everyday but do I make new brine or do I can them with the brine it’s in