We have a large neglected olivetree overgrown in a pot, and I need to make a decision whether to bonzai it or put it in the ground at my garden. If I’m going to find room for it, I need to have an easy way to process the olives and get them mild enough in flavor that everybody wants to eat them. I have a smaller Luca tree last year I just soaked them in a mix of vinegar and sea salt. They’re too strong to really eat, and they don’t seem to be reducing in strength. Is there anyway to make them milder like the ones you buy jarred from the store? Assuming I can figure that out, I’d probably have to import a cherry pitter.
May not be worth all the trouble, we may just keep using it as an ornamental.
If salt concentration in brine is too strong, it inhibits the fermentation process. Or, possibly, you didn’t wait long enough. Without the use of lye (which I personally avoid) the process of olive curing can take several months. Follow recipes from this guide, be patient, and you will make tasty cured olives. It’s really not too much work, just takes long time.
Thanks Stan. I think they’ve been sitting for about four months. I didn’t measure anything, so it’s likely very strong vinegar and salt would stop the fermenting. I read through that article you linked, and I’ll try to calculate the percentage based on the small batches I’m doing so far. Is it actually possible using water or brine curing to mild the taste to the level of store-bought olives which are quite bland? Or is this a hopeless enterprise?
Yes, you can completely remove the bitterness via brine curing (I didn’t try pure water curing so cannot comment on that), if that’s what you’re asking. The level of saltiness you can control by soaking olives in water for several hours up to a day or two, after you’re done curing them. Taste depends both on curing method and olive cultivar, so there is quite a bit of variation.
Ok thanks. I just don’t really have any nice soil areas left to put a tree, not sure if anyone here will want to eat the finished product, and my wife kind of wants it as a pot ornamental, so I’m on the fence…