best green olives picking guide

This best green olives picking guide will help you select the freshest and highest-quality green olives for pickling. When picking olives, it’s ideal to use your hands to avoid damaging them. Choose only firm olives, as softness indicates overripeness. Additionally, make sure the olives are still green, since darker colors show that they are too ripe for pickling.

Selecting a Cure Solution

Olives have a bitter, firm flavor. This bitterness is primarily due to the presence of oleuropein in olives. Therefore, you must cure them to get rid of the bitter taste. There are several curing methods available; these include oil-cured, water-cured, brine-cured, salt-dry-cured, and lye-cured techniques.

Water Curing

This method, as recommended in the best green olives picking guide, is suggested for big green olives. First, after washing the olives, crack the olive meat with a stone or hammer, being careful not to bruise the pit. Next, soak the olives in cold water for a week, changing the water twice a day until the bitterness is gone. Then, fill the pan halfway with brine (approximately 1 part sea salt to 10 parts water) and lemon juice (about 1 part lemon juice to 10 parts water). Finally, transfer to jars if preferred, and chill for several hours before serving.

Brine Curing

This method is appropriate for black olives.

First, wash the olives, then make a cut in the olive (top to bottom) without breaking the pit. Next, put the olives in brine (1 part sea salt to 10 parts water) in a pan. Be sure to ensure that the olives are completely submerged and covered.

After that, cure the olives for three weeks, stirring the pan daily and replacing the brine weekly. However, depending on the olives, this process could take 5 to 6 weeks.

Finally, when they have reached the desired flavor, put them in jars with brine (1 part sea salt to 10 parts water), 4 tablespoons vinegar, and a layer of olive oil on top.