Yesterday I decided to pickle the olives I harvested during the weekend. It is an easy process if you have everything you need.
The first thing is washing the olives. You want to keep them in water for a while and check those that may have been bitten by insects to put their eggs inside as they may start to be rotten. After having them inside the water, those damaged tend to remain on the water's surface and the healthy ones go down the bottom.
It is sad as you end up having to throw away quite a few, but it is better to spend some time selecting them making sure you keep the healthy ones before picking them.
After taking away the leaves, little branches, and the damaged olives you just rinse them and start preparing the liquid to preserve them. The rule of thumb is 1 part of salt for 9 parts of water.
You want to stir for a while to make sure all the salt is diluted into the water, otherwise, some jars will have too much salt. I used marine salt but you can use any type you want. You then start filling the jars. I used old juice jars I had in the house, you can use anything you want, but it is better to use glass recipients.
Then you fill the jars with the salty water all the way up to the top and put the lids trying to close them hard. The salty water can react after several weeks/months if the jars are not closed properly
And there you go! your olives are ready to spend a minimum of 4 months inside the jars before eating them. I usually live them there longer as I have some from the previous season. If they are pickled correctly they can last years. As time goes by, the olives get softer and tastier. When you want to eat them all you have to do is throw some into a small bowl and add some olive oil on top, this way if you do not finish them all the olives will be perfectly kept for several days.
