Preserving olives

Brent & James Picked our olives when changing colour from green to black.

Placed olives in a jar and covered with water and 1 1/2 Tablespoons rock salt.

Change the water daily for 10 to 12 days, rinsing off any scum that may appear.

Sample daily until bitter taste goes away

Next step is to prepare a brine solution.

Brine solution : 1 Tablespoon rock salt per jar.
Rinse olives and eat a few
Place into sterilized jars or clean containers and water top of the olives
Add 2 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
add 1 dried chili sliced
Lemon rind & some lemon juice 1 small lemon

Be sparing with any flavorings you may wish to add.....making sure you have washed the herbs first.
Sprigs of thyme; rosemary; oregano; garlic clove; small dried chilli; mustard seeds; coriander seeds; zest of lemon peel.

Seal with 5 ml olive oil (this also gives the olives a nice taste as you are fishing them out to taste)

Keep in a cool place and leave for 4 to 6 weeks, testing as you wish


Yes our very first jar of olives from our olive grove. We were told to remove all the olives the first year of growing, but we couldn't. - They taste real nice & seem to be going down by the day.

This post was taken from old blog - July 20th 2007 We all thought they tasted real good last night!