# Colossal Olives



## Wade E

Anyone make their own olives. I am picking up a lug of them tomorrow and will start that endeavor by gently cracking them open and cold soaking them for a week before making the brine and soaking for months. One of my wine making friends offered me some last year and i was blown away by them and he gave me the recipe. They are the best darn olives in the world (Okay, maybe not Italy but thats where they come from) that I have ever tasted and will be making these every year now also. They wont be ready till after Thanksgiving.


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## AlFulchino

all ears on this one...recipe?


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## Wade E

Ingredients:

10-12 pounds Green Olives (buy in boxes)
Pickling Salt (Walmart) 2-3 containers
White wine vinegar 
Oregano (1 bunch)
Garlic (8 cloves)
Cheese cloth
10-20 L Demijohn with wide mouth

Directions:

1. Rinse olives in cold water and drain
2. Crack olives for soaking. Place olive on hard surface and hit with a flat block or stone. Try to hit hard just enough to crack the flesh. If you hit too hard you will break in half
3. Place the olives in a food grade plastic pail of fresh cold water. Be sure the olives are completely submerged. Close the container lid loosely and leave the olives to soak
4. After 24 hours, drain water and cover again with fresh cool water. Repeat the water change daily for 6-7 days. This process removes the bitterness of the olives

Now for your busy day:

1. Drain olives out of brine
2. Peel and pop open garlic cloves
3. Wrap several bundles of Oregano in cheese cloth and tie up top with string
4. Add 1 pound (1-1/2 cups) of Pickling salt to one gallon of warm water and stir until dissolved. Then add 2 cups of white wine vinegar and stir 
5. In a clean demijohn, place some olives, some garlic, and a bag of oregano
6. Continue to make layers of these items in the demi-john
7. When complete, pour the above brine into the demijohn and fill to top. Place put on cover securely
8. Try to keep all olives under water or they will get mildew (try a light weight on top)
9. Keep demijohn in a cool place ( a refrigerator if necessary)

Rest for about two months (that was a tough day) – the olives need time to soften and mature in the brine

Preparing to eat:

1. Take desired amount of olives from demijohn. Be sure to refill demijohn with fresh water to the top (narrow neck). This presents the smallest area for the olives to get exposed to the air. Replace top weight
2. Rinse under cold water, let soak for 10-15 minutes, then rinse again
3. Mix 1 cube of garlic and 1 cube of parsley (Trader Joe’s) with olive oil in a bowl. Soften cubes by mixing ingredients; then add red or black pepper. Add olives to mixture. Adjust amount of ingredients depending on amount of olives being prepared.
4. Enjoy with some home made wine!!

Frank and AnnMarie Renaldi


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## Big Ike

Wade,

I do brine my own olives. The recipe that I use is pretty simple, but really easy to alter and add the flavors you like. I got the recipe from my brother's father-in-law and I source my olives from my mother-in-law:

Pick very ripe olives, wash, drain and make a cut to the pit of each olive. Place Olives in quart jars, add one tablespoon of salt to each jar, fill with water and cover. Change the salt water everyday (same ratio) until the bitterness leaves the olives—from 10 days to several weeks (I recommend 30 days) depending on the olives and the growing season. When cured, drain the jars and add to each quart of olives:

1Teaspoon Salt
¼Cup Vinegar (cider vinegar)
1Clove Garlic
1Teaspoon Oregano
2Tablespoons Lemon Juice
Slivers of Lemon Rind
2Tablespoons Olive Oil
2Tablespoons Oil (any neutral oil or double the olive oil)
Fresh Ground Pepper to taste
1Bay Leaf

These amounts can vary according to your tastes. Fill the remainder of the jar with water, cover and shake. Shake and turn each day for three days to two weeks (I recommend two weeks).


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## Wade E

I notice you have 2 different tablespoons of oil, is that a type O or what is the second oil?


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## Big Ike

Any neutral oil or I just double the olive oil. More than anything, the oil in this recipe is used as a seal that helps prevent oxygen exposure. 

My brother's father-in-law makes enough to last him all year, he's been doing it for 20, and he's never had any spoil. When I make them I give them away and eat them too quickly to last to the next crop.

I'll clean that up above.


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## Wade E

Picked up a 16 lb box of these today and followed your directions for splitting them by knife instead of smacking them as it was raining pretty good here, I used a ceramic knife as Ive heard that metal ones cause browning for some reason. Here are some pics of the olives and the 2-10 liter wide mouth demijohns I bought for keeping them in after they have released all thier acids are are in the brine.


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## grapeman

Are these the green olives like you have here or do they turn black like the ripe ones you buy? (Only a lot tastier I hope). You have enough olives there to last a good long time. I love the brines green ones, but haven't had many of them in years after I had to start watching my Na intake.


I can't wait to see the finished product Wade!


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## Wade E

They are the green ones and they are ripe. They are from California, I thought they would be from Italy myself.


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## Waldo

Do either of you stuff any of your olives


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## Wade E

First time making them, maybe next year Ill stuff some with garlic and cheese, anyone know how long cheese will hold up in brine?


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## Big Ike

Wade,


First, those are some good looking olives.


Second, that's a good looking dog in the background.


All of the olives I've made have been black/purple in color at the beginninng of the process. I have not made green olives. My olive mentor uses lye on his green olives, but I don't have his recipe to share. 


Bottom line, I'm not sure my recipe with work on a green olive, but I just don't know.


Sorry,
Ike


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## Wade E

Im using my friends recipe cause Ive tasted them and am tasting them again right now as I went over his house this morning for tannin addition evaluation on his wines and he gave me a quart of these puppies ummmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!! I di use your knife cuttng instaed of smacking them open though. I havent found the black olives yet but ust put in a emali to my suppiler for a return on info on the kalammato's caus i love those also.


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## vcasey

Wade did you mail order these? What supplier did you use? I made a mistake and showed my husband and now he wants or at least he is interested.
VC


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## gaudet

The only stuffed olives I've done is stuffing them into my mouth. That does look mighty tasty though Wade


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## Wade E

I bought them from M&amp;M produce which has a website but dont think they mail order them. Heres the site and its in Hartford, Ct.
http://www.juicegrape.com/


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## vcasey

Hubby found a place in Cali that ships, and now he's looking at olive trees.!
VC


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## Wade E

OOPS, sorry!


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## Goodfella

vcasey said:


> Hubby found a place in Cali that ships, and now he's looking at olive trees.!
> VC








What place ships the vcasey?


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## NEBama

Wade where did you find the wide mouth 10 liter demi johns?AL


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## vcasey

He found them at the placehttp://www.greatolives.com/products.php
That's all right Wade, he is busy pouting because I said he could get them only when he had time to deal with them. Since he is in the middle of converting a freezer into a kegerator and making it presentable so it can be used behind the bar he wants to build I have no worries he'll even try to get them this year. The tree may be another story!
VC


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## Wade E

I got them at M&amp;M Produce in Hartford Ct. for $18.50 each.


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## moto-girl

Ahh, another great foodie hobby. I'm afraid I'll have to wait until next year as well. But now I can plan ahead!


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## Dean

VERY interested in the outcome! I've always wanted to do this, however, could never find fresh olives. Maybe when I move to Tuscany one day.


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## jobe05

Very interesting project Wade. I have looked into making these a while back, but I didn't really care for the taste of a green olive, so I decided not to venture into it. However I do like the stuffed ones once in a while.

I'll stay tuned to this thread to see how they come out.

Wade: I have on hand about 100 pound of Lye (sodium hydroxide) if you need some. As I recall, you would only need about a table spoon full for a nice size batch. You use it in your initial soak stage to remove any proteins that should not be present in Olive's.......... like bird and insect poop..........


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## Wade E

Lye is what people use to soak the olives in if not cracking them open to release the acids. I dont feel safe using it and am following my friends recipe as his come out "to die for"


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## moto-girl

How many quarts does one get from 10 lbs? I'm actually thinking of jumping in this adventure and I'm just wondering how much to order.


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## Wade E

Ill have a better idea tomorrow as I transfer them from the to 2 10 liter demijohns.


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## moto-girl

I ordered a box from Chaffin family orchards in Oroville, Ca. 20 lbs was shipped to my house for a mere $35. I didn't really know what 20 lbs looked like when it came to olives, until I opened that box and started cracking them and putting them in water. That's alot of olives! Now my little babies are soaking. Now to firm up my brining recipe and find some large glass containers to hold them in.


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## Wade E

Did you crack them or cut them? I cut them and it does not work anywhere as good and will smack them with rolling pin next time.


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## Wade E

16 lbs of olives pretty much filled both 10 liter demi johns.


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## moto-girl

I cut them. I don't really know what to expect because I've never done this before. 20 lbs is about at the 5 gallon mark on my primary.


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## Wade E

I think you better whack each one cause cutting them didnt do anything! I had them like that for 1 week and thats when my buddy did his and he tried it this way also and then emailed me to whack them cause it wasnt working so I did and right after that the water got all slimy and started turning green from the acids being released. I used 2 primaries.


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## moto-girl

The water had been a light yellow green color. I went and bought a ceramic knife to do the cutting and some of the cuts are brown. Ugg! I'm wondering if this will fade in time or just look ugly forever?
I really don't want to whack them. I just got 50 lbs of apples and am in the middle of dealing with that. But if they must be whacked , I'll put on my Tony Soprano hat and get to it!


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## moto-girl

Wade, do you just store these in a cool place, like a basement or do they need to be refrigerated? I was hoping to keep them in the basement in the brine covered in olive oilwith a tight fitting lid on top with little headspace.


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## Wade E

Yep, the basement is where my buddy keeps his just like you and me will, mine is resting in my wine cellar!


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## moto-girl

Good to know I'm in good company then. Mine will be nestled among the bottles as well. I just changed the water and they seem to be coming along nicely, for all I know. The water smelled of olives and was a little off color, but not slimey. The olives are changing color, from bright green to a more ' green olive' color. I have the Bourani variety of olive; not sure it makes a difference.
The orchard I went through will have black olives in about 6 to 8 weeks.


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## moto-girl

I put these in these in the brine today. One batch I did with lemons, garlic, oregano and dill. The other batch I did with lemons, garlic, oregano, and chili flakes. They look beautiful and I have high hopes for them.


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## Wade E

Make sure they are all under the brine by weighting them down. Im not a big lemon lover.


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## moto-girl

They are all under the brine with a thick layer of olive oil on top. I used one lemon split between the batches. Just enough, not enough to overpower.


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## Goodfella

you guys are starting to kill me with this thread..... I might need to make some olives!!!!


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## Wade E

Dont know if they are still available anywhere. I did pull some out a week ago and they are tasty already but still young and most of them were still to hard to truly enjoy. I will not do the slice thing next time as the ones that were sliced never really lost all their acids like the ones that were cracked.


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## Dean

Ok, a couple of months ago I actually found some fresh olives! I followed a hybrid of Wade's recipe. However, instead I did a full 25 day water cure, and then brined them. I smashed each and every one with a rolling pin. I have to say, these olives are AMAZING! Best I've ever had, and I'm always buying olives. My only regret is that we only did 10lbs. Next year, I'm probably going to double that to 20lbs.


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## AlFulchino

good luck Dean...hope it comes out great...i love olives...someone gave me about 30 pounds of frozen blueberries last night..i am gonna try my hand at bb wine after the first of the year


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## Runningwolf

Dang I wish I hadn't seen this thread



. Now I have a craving for some cheese, olives, crackers and some wine. I can't tell you how many times that ended up being dinner. I think next year this is definitely a new project!


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## Wade E

Definitely worth it. I still have plenty left and need to take a whole lot out of the brine and get them ready soon. Havent had any in awhile.


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## Randoneur

Dean said:


> Ok, a couple of months ago I actually found some fresh olives! I followed a hybrid of Wade's recipe. However, instead I did a full 25 day water cure, and then brined them. I smashed each and every one with a rolling pin. I have to say, these olives are AMAZING! Best I've ever had, and I'm always buying olives. My only regret is that we only did 10lbs. Next year, I'm probably going to double that to 20lbs.








Dean, you're holding out on us. You know we want the whole recipe!!


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## Dean

Here's what I did:
1. Rinse olives in cold water and drain
2. Crack olives for soaking. Place olive on hard surface and hit with a flat block or stone. I used a rolling pin. Try to hit hard just enough to crack the flesh. If you hit too hard you will break the olive in half. 
3. Place the olives in a food grade plastic pail of fresh cold water. Be sure the olives are completely submerged. Close the container lid loosely and leave the olives to soak.
4. After 24 hours, drain water and cover again with fresh cool water. Repeat the water change daily for 20 to 25 days. This process removes the bitterness of the olives, and is called a "water cure". Any olives that look gross and float after that time, you toss out. I had about 6 or 7 that didn't look good.

For the first few days, they are going to look like you just bruised the hell out of them, but that will go away as they cure.

After the 25 days of curing:
1. Drain olives out of brine and sterilize your jars in the oven. 225 for 20 minutes should do.
2. Peel and pop open about 7 or 8 garlic cloves
3. add 1/2 tsp of dried oregano to each jar. I used 1 gallon BIG jars. I also smashed the cloves of garlic and placed 1 smashed clove in each jar and then equally divided the rest of the garlic in the jars minced fine.
4. Add 1 and 1/4 cups of Pickling salt to 4 litres of warm water and stir until dissolved. Then add 2 cups of white wine vinegar and stir well. Wait for this brine to cool down. 
5. Add olives to the jars. Fill up to the top, but don't press down to pack them in.
7. When complete, pour the above brine into the jars and fill to top. Place put on cover securely
8. Try to keep all olives under water or they will get mildew (try a light weight on top)
9. Enjoy after a few days, as the olives are already cured, we just added a bit of salt and flavour to them. MUCH better than you'll ever find commercially!


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## joeswine

INTERESTING,I HAVE LBS. OF PITTED GREEN OLIVES IN THE BASEMENT NOW IN BRINE,WAITING FOR ME TO DIVIDE UP INTO QUART JARS,I WAS TOLD THEY WILL KEEP IN THE BRINE IN THE JARS,OR I COULD MARINATE SOME AS WELL, I LIKE THE OLIVES GREEK STILL,OR SICILIAN STYLE,BOTH ARE SIMILAR IN MAKE UP,GREEK WITH OLIVE OIL AND SPICES AND LEMON,SICILIAN WITH OREGANO,GARLIC,CRUSHED PEPPER FLAKES ,SALY AND EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL,(FOR BOTH) STYLE'S,OILS ARE GREAT SNACK AND GOOD FOR YOU ALSO.


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## sjo

Bump1



Have these finished off good? Do they get better with age? Has anyone else tried making olives?
SJO


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## Runningwolf

SJO, thanks for bumping up this post from years ago. I never did get around to making any. I called the local produce company and they were suppose to call me when they got olives in. Years later I'm still waiting. The recipes sound so good.


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## sjo

I was reminded of the post yesterday while standing in a store looking at a 30 foot section of nothing but olives. I did buy a few jars for a snack while shopping, came home and looked on line for a supplier and found none. 
SJO


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## grapeman

I used to love eating olives until I was put on a low sodium diet. My wife bought me a bottle of the jumbo ones a month or so back. I read the label and told her I could only eat one a week for all the sodium in them. LOL Nobody can eat just one! And hey, you only live so long anyways- might as well enjoy it while you are here!


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