Home Cured Olives... Yumz!

One of my neighbours has a massive olive tree that overhangs the footpath. There are so many olives on the tree that I barely put a dent in it when I collected two buckets full. That was three months ago and I'm thinking of doing another batch as the tree is still full and the olives have turned purple. It's a pretty easy method but it does take time and patience.

Makes: well, that depends on how many olives you have.
Time: about five minutes a day for a month.


Ingredients:
•Olives.
•Water.
And later:
•Salt.
•Lemon juice.
•Garlic.
•Chili.

Method:
Wash your olives in some cold water. Slice a slit in each one like in the photo.
Place in a big jar or bucket.
Change the water once a day for about 30 days or until the bitterness has left the building. They'll be crunchy and a little bitter, but nothing the brine can't deal with.
Now for bottling.
Gather enough jars to fit all the olives.
Sterilize the jars by boiling them in water for a few minutes.
Take them out of the water and fill with the olives, slices of garlic, chili, or any other herbs you fancy.
Pour a brine made of one part salt, one part lemon juice and ten parts water in the top of each jar.
Put the lids on and then let stand in the cupboard for at least a month.
They should then be ready to eat!
So I guess the idea is to do a massive batch at once, so then you can reap the rewards for months to come. Seriously. Who thought of this? If you have ever eaten an olive fresh off the tree, you'll know just how bitter they can taste.
I love olives... Xx