Anyone doing olives?

[piazzola]

Like to know where to source them and what's the best prices and qaulity in town

I have processed 4 kilos already but I have seen little black gems around that I reckon could process them for the next few weeks

Thanks

[fou de Bassan]

Where did you see those gems? I was getting mine from a fruit place in Clayton. Really good quality and not that expensive, but when I went back about 10 days ago they didn't have any. I'm going this Sat. and will report back if I find any.

[piazzola]

At QVM there are few stalls with plenty of them but expensive $3.99 the problem is that you are not allow to pick them individually for sorting those destined for salt drying and those for pickling although I have both but I would not want to end up with a larger quantity for salting as I will run out of space

Edited May 25, 2006 by piazzola (log)

[lamington]

I was surprised to see black olives available at my Safeway last week -- and yes I do mean off-the-tree, rather than ready-to-eat. I think the price was around $5/kg, but i didn't look too hard.

[Dim Sim]

does anyone know how to process olives, I always get mine from the greek deli at the Vic market, already brined. I get told different stories each time as to how to process them, some said to soak them in ash apparently to get rid of bitterness ( not too convinced about this) anyone has a good method/recipe they might like to share

[piazzola]

does anyone know how to process olives, I always get mine from the greek deli at the Vic market, already brined. I get told different stories each time as to how to process them,  some said to soak them in ash apparently to get rid of bitterness ( not too convinced about this) anyone has a good method/recipe they might like to share

←

Hi there

There are various methods to process olives though the most popular here seems to be the Greek method of brining for that you'll need green or semi ripe greek olives I have one of my neighbours to explain how it is done though I used the caustic soda process before and ash is good too but need to get the "flower of the ash" for it to work propely.

Processing olives is easy though get them to taste just right and look right as always there are few tricks one learns along with experience.

You can check out this page http://www.vasilisgarden.com/facts.php

two links describes the process

Edited May 27, 2006 by piazzola (log)

[fou de Bassan]

A report from the market...

the fruit market on Clayton had olives, 2 kinds, for 3.99 and 4.99 a kilo. Neither looked great- some soft spots and wrinkles but, if I had had more time I might have picked through them since there's no ban on that in this place. Anyone else have any more luck?

[lamington]

Checked today -- Safeway Moonee Ponds has large black olives in fairly good condition for $6.98/kg.

[Goatjunky]

Have you ever had trouble with worms in your fresh olives?

[fou de Bassan]

goatjunky,

I've never had a problem with worms in my olives. I am a relative newbie to olive curing however, so this may be more common than I know. The olives I've been using are fairly large and so it is easy to spot a defect. Hope someone else can be of more help.

[Goatjunky]

Well I found out the trees I have been picking from were infested with Olive Flys. I went over my batch last year really well (I thought) but still had a few sneak in there. Of course now I am grossed out by the thought of eating larvae protein bits in my olives, but I am going to try again! There are tons of trees around me, so I am going to move spots and give it a try again.

[piazzola]

Well

I have finished curing a small batch of salt dried cured olives

and put the lot in jar of olive oil

The result is a delicous bunch of olives and as a bonus a kind of extra virgin f oil rich in olive flavour and greenish tinge.

Next year I'll do a large box regardless of the mess

[fou de Bassan]

Thanks for the feedback. I had a bunch of olives go soggy and fermenty on me and had to throw them out. The other bunch is fine so I have no idea what went wrong. I'll try the salt cure next time, this time I used a brine.

[piazzola]

Not enough salt or stored at higher temp could be some of the causes.

I have now transferred most of the olives to oil.

Make a habit of tasting olives for readiness every month to minimise spoilage by changing brine if and when necessary.

[Boodles]

I had lost 100kg batch once, literally over night. Room temp got to hot so i ended up with soggy olives that had to be dumped.