SIX STEPS TO MAKING GREEN OLIVES
This year I discovered that making olives is harder than making olive oil. With olive oil, you just need to get the olives off the tree and then to the mill as soon as possible, let the mill crush, and voila, ready to pour over everything. But I amended my thoughts as I looked at the 25 kilos of olives piled up in buckets: I’m not going to make olives because that is what the tree does. And the hardest part of the process was already done: It took two men about four hours to get the olives off the one tree, beating it gently with a stick. I was just going to preserve them.
I went about asking everyone I knew—texting and calling relatives far and wide, one generation ahead of me and one generation behind me; the car mechanic, Abu George, because his mom makes great apricot jam so I thought her preserving skills would extend to olives, the vegetable seller up the road (more on him later), Ahmed, the Egyptian gardener (I didn’t ask—he told me three times, as a sign of having little faith in me). And of course, the internet, which has very little consensus on the process. I combined them all together, and feel like I can tell you how to make olives. It’s not hard, but it takes time and a lot of water, a gift as precious as the olive tree.
Crushing olives for pickling
The Process:
1. Wash the olives (they have been collecting dust since they bloomed in May)
2. Crush the olives: Gently. This can be done by a) using a stone, crushing each olive individually, the traditional method that could take years if not done as a big group project. b) carving an X in each olive c)if you live in an area dominated by olive trees, there is probably a hand-cranked machine that crushes olives at a nearby store or mill. This is what I did (see video below), at vegetable seller, who used Dead Sea salt to coat the blades so that the olives’ oil would not come out. d) you can opt not to crush, a newer idea that just means the preserving will take a couple of months longer than with the crushing.
3. Soak the olives in water for two to five days, changing the water every day. The purpose of this is to limit the bitterness of the olives. However, beyond five days you risk getting mushy olives. Also, bitterness is a valued quality, and much valuable oil flavor is lost with soaking. You will notice the water get oiler the more you soak. I would go with two days. A more modern option is not to soak at all, but again a longer time before the olives will be ready, as the bitterness also needs to edge out during the preserving period.
4. Make the brine. Mix water and coarse sea salt or kosher salt. The brine is ready when a clean, raw egg floats up enough to exposed about a coin-size (about the size of a US quarter or 2- euro coin). This means the brine is ready. Alternatively, 10 cups of water to one cup of salt is also an accurate brine.
5. Get out of your sterilized mason jars. Place olives in jar, layering with quartered lemons and hot peppers to taste. Not too much lemon, or you will get mushy olives. Fill jar, leaving two-inch/5-centimeters of space at top.
6. Top generously with olive oil to help keep air out, and a couple of large bay leaves. The bay leaves are not necessary but also prevent olives from getting mushy.
Whichever of these options you follow, in two months, you will have olives. But if you soaked and crushed, your olives should be ready in a month. Rest your back and moisturize your hands well.
Serve with everything every day! (written by Alia Yunis)
The Egg Test
The Golden Harvest Updates
We are are pleased to announce that the Arabic version of The Golden Harvest is now on MBC Shahid, the largest Middle East on demand platform. Also looking forward to being part of the American Pavilion at Expo 2020. Stay tuned for the date and more screening news!
For those who prefer black olives
IN OTHER NEWS
If there is Mediterranean food news out there, it gets sent to us! We were especially moved by Reem Kassis’ beautiful New York Times story of her family’s hometown, know simply for having the best olive oil in the world. We found ourselves laughing at Andalusia’s Muslims and Jews passing French toast off as pork to assure the Spanish rulers that they “kosher,” you could say, Christians in Tom Verde’s Atlas Obscura story on a rediscovered 11th century cookbook from Moorish Spain.