Dry cured olives for entertaining and family dinners
My favourite olives both to make and to eat are dry cured. These are so easy to prepare that it’s generous to say that I “made” them.
They have other advantages aside from the ease of preparation too. Dried olives last considerably longer than brine cured, and the salt used in curing the olives becomes infused with the olive essence.
Servings: 0
Ingredients
- 10 lbs Black Olives
- 9 lbs Kosher Salt
Instructions
- Wash the olives by soaking them for 15 minutes in water that has had vinegar added to it
- Pick through the olives, removing any that show signs of decay
Pour a layer of salt into a jar or plastic container- Cover this layer with a layer of olives
- Cover that layer with salt and repeat until all ingredients are used
- Put the lid on, leave it at the back of a dark shelf, and leave them for a month.
- They will look a bit soupy at this point
- Use a slotted spoon to transfer the olives to a new container with fresh kosher salt, reserving the original salt for later use
At this point, if you want the olives to be pitted, they will be soft, making it easy to press the seeds out. I prefer to do this for myself as the olives are needed,- When they are sufficiently dry, remove them from the salt and store them in vaccum-sealed bags or in jars with olive oil and kept in the refrigerator
Video
Notes
When fully cured, the olives will lose about 50% of their weight, as the moisture is drawn out into the salt.
We use the delicious salt that is produced from this in cooking, to cure meat, and to season baguettes.
Over time, the juices from the olives will settle to the bottom of the jar. We then top the jar up with more salt as needed, mixing it in to distribute the juices.
It has been three years since we made the last batch of olives, but we are still using the olive scented salt, to which we have added at least 5lbs of fresh kosher salt. It’s also much prized as a gift by our foodie friends.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Love this! I do a very similar thing but I just put the olives in a pillow case with plenty of salt and hang it somewhere with something underneath to catch drips. I occasionally toss the contents around to redistribute the layers of salt and olives, and that’s basically it! I do like the idea of your method though, to actually collect the olive juice. I do reuse the salt from my method, but it doesn’t taste very olive-y. What I’ve been wondering about is of the curing salt could be considered beneficial, healthwise, since it contains the bitter oleuropein that’s drawn out of the olives and oleuropein has been touted as a health supplement. I don’t know if the salt itself affects the polyphenol’s benefits though. Do you have any thoughts on this?
I’ve also wondered about the potential health benefits but haven’t had a chance to find an expert to query about this yet. I mainly focused on making sure that it wasn’t a health risk. It’s an interesting question though. I’ll have to find out. Thanks for commenting, and asking your question, I appreciate it.
Thanks for the recipe I’m going to give this a shot I have a little bit of black olives I picked from the tree in front of my yard. Some of my neighbors have made the brine when the olives were still green but for me it tastes funny and I prefer the black olives but I haven’t figured out how to prepare them properly and I think this might be what I’ve been looking for. I was wondering when you leave the olives in the back of the closet for a month do you occasionally take them out and stir the container and if so how often would I do that ?thank you
Every now and then, but only because I enjoy looking at them and giggling over my booty. It probably helps and certainly can’t hurt as long as the room is clean.
Hello,
I tried a similar method last year for salt curing SIX olives, not joking. They turned out really tasty. I’m wondering when you say that you save the salt to reuse, are you talking about the “juice” too? Or strain off the juice and just save the salt left behind? obviously with six olives there wasn’t much juice that came out but i tossed the salt and now wishing i hadn’t.
Btw, just packed 6 ounces of olives using your recipe. it’s definitely more than 6 olives. ?
Thank you,
Barbara
Hi Barbara thanks for the question.
I just keep adding salt until the liquid is entirely absorbed.I just keep adding salt and stirring it in, while the liquid goes to the bottom leaving the flavored salt behind.
It’s highly prized by the friends that I’ve given it to and I will be selling it this year as part of my new food production company, Gayles Greek Gourmet.
Do your have your own olive tree?
Thank you for your reply. I’m checking on my olives today:) Adding more salt …
Yes, I have 2 potted olive trees, each a different variety, but I don’t actually know what varieties they are.
I’m loving your guidance, thank you.
You are very welcome and thank you for asking questions!
Hello,
I tried a similar method last year for salt curing SIX olives, not joking. They turned out really tasty. I’m wondering when you say that you save the salt to reuse, are you talking about the “juice” too? Or strain off the juice and just save the salt left behind? obviously with six olives there wasn’t much juice that came out but i tossed the salt and now wishing i hadn’t.
Btw, just packed 6 ounces of olives using your recipe. it’s definitely more than 6 olives. ?
Thank you,
Barbara
I’m currently preparing to launch a Greek food manufacturing company, Gayle’s Greek Gourmet. In discussion with the Vancouver Island Health Authority official about this process, he made some recommendations for altering this process. First, monitoring for PH levels and keeping the olives refrigerated during the plain water portion of the process. Also adding ascorbic acid or other similar items, like vinegar for lowering the PH as required.
I may try the lye process next year when I do these again…possibly split the batch and process each by a different method to test the flavor and texture differences. I’m finding that even slicing the olives under water doesn’t eliminate oxidation of the cut area.