Olives in brine

Olives are so good for so many things!

Olives are full of oleic acid, which has been linked to preventing heart diseases, they are rich in phenolic compounds, which are commonly linked to cancer prevention. They reduce the inflammation in the body. They contain antioxidants, vit. E and vit. A (good for skin and eyes), healthy fats, fiber which helps the digestion. They are basically filled with nature’s blast of energy!

So straight to the recipe! (There are so many different recipes to prepare olives but this one worked amazingly for us and we can’t express how satisfying it is to snack on them whenever we want)

1. Harvest the olives.

2. Slice each olive lengthwise with the tip of a sharp knife from both sides. Make sure you don’t damage the pit.

3. Place the olives in a  big enough container so you can cover them fully with water. Keep the olives in water for around 2/3 weeks, changing water every day or every other day until the bitterness goes away (also rinse the olives before putting them in new water). You can also keep them much longer if you want. You really don’t have to be so strict if it goes to timing. After some time you can just try one and see if they suit your taste.

❀ Make sure you keep all the olives under water, we put plates all over them so they stayed submerged

4. We preserved our olives just in brine which is combination of water and sea-salt. For our olives we used 90g of sea-salt for every litre of water. Boil the water in the pot, then melt the sea-salt in the water. The brine is ready!

5. Prepare and clean all the jars.

6. Now it’s the fun part! Preparing all the herbs and spices for your olives to be full of taste and spice.

 

We used garlic, chopped rosemary and oregano, bay leaves, chopped chilli, lemon peel and fresh fennel. This combination gives quite a smoky taste to olives and they really taste delicious.

 

First we mixed olives with rosemary and oregano and then we started to put them in jars making two layers with the rest of ingredients in between (like on the photo below)

 

When the jar is full and ready don’t forget to press the olives really well so you eliminate air pockets and this will also enable you to fit many more olives in one jar.

When all the jars are ready it’s important to make sure that the olives will be kept under the brine all the time. For that you can use the sticks which remain from the herbs (like on the photo below) or grape/ bay leaves.

 

Now, pour the brine over the olives, close the jars and put them in a dark place. Don’t forget to label them with the date!

After around 1-2 months they should be ready. You can taste them from time to time, you might like them even before that time. It’s also good to open the jars at least once during this time to release the accumulated gas.

Happy olive jarring!!!