Homemade Olive Brine Food

BRINE-CURED OLIVES

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Remove any stems or leaves and compost or discard. Thoroughly rinse the olives and discard any bruised ones.
• With the tip of a sharp paring knife, score each olive lengthwise 1 to 3 times.
• Place the scored olives in a medium-sized nonreactive bowl or pot.
• Cover the olives with water. Place a plate that's slightly smaller than the rim of the bowl on top of olives. Weigh down the plate with cans of food or heavy objects to keep the olives submerged at all times. Let soak for three days.
• Drain the olives in a colander and return to the pot.
• In a large measuring cup, make a brine by dissolving 3 tablespoons of the salt in 1 quart of the water.
• Pour the brine over the olives. Replace the plate and weight and leave for one week.
• Drain the olives again and repeat the brine with the same measurements (3 tablespoons of salt per 1 quart of water). Weigh down and leave for one week. Repeat the rinsing and brining process 2 more times (4 times total), which will result in four weeks of brining in salted water.
• Taste one of the olives. If it is bitter, continue with the brining process (using fresh water and more salt) for another week and taste again. Continue until the olives are no longer bitter.
• Drain the olives and transfer them to clean glass jars.
• Make another brine with 1 1/2 tablespoons salt and the remaining 1 pint water. Stir in the red wine or apple cider vinegar and pour the brine over the olives in the jars.
• Tightly cover the brined olives and store them in the refrigerator or a cool cellar for up to one year. The flavor will improve if you wait at least a week or two before sampling.
• Enjoy.

BRINED AND MARINATED GREEK-STYLE OLIVES

Steps:

• Sort olives by color/ripeness into different bowls. Green, mostly green, half green/purple, mostly purple, purple.
• Clean olives thoroughly by rinsing under water (work in batches).
• Use a paring knife to score/cut an "X" in each olive. This allows the brine to more easily leach the bitterness out of the olive.
• Once a whole color-batch is scored, place in a one-gallon pickle jar with a brine of 8oz sea salt to water. Swish the brine throughly so that all the salt gets dissolved instead of settling to the bottom. Fill with water to almost the top. Use a ziploc baggie with some water in it to weight the olives. It is very important to keep all olives submerged to avoid mold problems. Leave the lid loose and put in a cool, dark place.
• After one week, switch to a stronger brine of 1lb salt/gallon. I like to rinse the olives and sterilize the jars at this point. The smell and sensation of the clean, rinsed olives may blow your mind. I also use a new batch of clean ziplocs at this point to weight the olives. Keep those babies submerged!
• After 2 weeks, replace brine again as above. Close lids firmly.
• Replace brine as many times as necessary to achieve a taste you like (realizing they will be REALLY salty just out of the brine, even rinsed). I usually switch the brine 3 -4 times, 1 -2 weeks apart. Greener olives will take longer than purple olives.
• When they've been brined to your satisfaction, the fun begins! Rinse throughly. Pack in sterilized jars to 2/3 full.
• Add organic lemon slices (3-4 per jar), a whole or minced clove of garlic, and a teaspoon or so or dried oregano. Fill with vinegar (I like white vinegar for green olives and red wine for purples) and one teaspoon of salt to one inch below top of jar.
• Add 1/2 inch of olive oil.
• Seal firmly and agitate the mixture, then store in a cool, dark, place.
• Once opened, these must be refrigerated. Bring them back to room temperature before serving to avoid a weird lumpy oil crud covering your beloved olives. Refrigerate any leftovers.
• Play with the marinades - I like to do the green ones with hot peppers and carrots. Try different vinegars and herbs. A couple of years ago, I did a Thai theme, with ginger, lemon grass, hot peppers, and white vinegar. Delish!
• I have found when I give these as gifts, people do not always use them, and that is a big bummer considering all the work that goes into them and how incredibly delicious they are. Better to bring them to a party to show them off, then tell people about the process. (Plus, you get to enjoy them, too).