Why? Because you can! And pickle, and jam, or otherwise celebrate the resurgence of the domestic arts our forebears held so dear. Put on your best apron and step into our kitchen, won't you?
Our area is loaded with olive trees. We have a tree on our property too. Just recently, I bought a 33.8 oz bottle of extra virgin olive oil (off-brand) at the grocery store. It cost over $8.00. Uh huh, you know what came next...
I cannot say for sure if it is a pesto, a spread or a dip! I would call it a bit of everything because you can easily spread it on a piece of toasted bread and enjoy it with a glass of fresh white wine.
Curing olives in spring? Yep. The best oil-cured black olives come from olives that are very ripe. If you can get your hands on ripe black olives, this is just about the easiest cure there is.
If you run into fresh olives and want to cure them yourself, here's some basic intructions on brine-curing, an incredibly simple method that anyone can do.
Lye. Isn’t that drain cleaner? Yes, but it is also one of the best ways to cure green olives. A good lye cured olive, I have discovered, is uniquely smooth and luscious in a way that brine or water-cured olives can never be.
