Fresh olives are rarely available in Germany. Either you're lucky and have a few trees of your own, or you ask at your trusted Turkish or Italian grocery store. However, you should never eat fresh olives raw, but always pickle them.
Debitter olives
Olives fresh from the tree taste terribly bitter: It's hard to believe that such a healthy delicacy can be made from these inedible fruits. In order for the olives to taste good to you, you first have to free them from their bitter substances. Traditionally, this is done by soaking the olives in brine. Green, i.e. unripe, olives can only be debittered in water, but pure water is not sufficient for black ones.
How to pickle olives in brine
- Cut a cross into the fresh olives at each end.
- Alternatively, pierce them on three sides with a fork.
- Take 500 grams of salt per liter of water.
- Soak the olives in this brine for 24 hours.
- Change the brine.
- Soak the olives for at least a week.
- Change the brine every day.
If the olives taste too salty after this procedure, soak them in clear water for a few days afterwards, and this must also be changed daily.
Olive oil preserves perfectly
Now you can preserve the debittered olives. To do this, it is best to take a disposable glass with an airtight lid and alternately layer olives, various spices such as bay leaves, oregano, rosemary, thyme etc. and, depending on your taste, suitable vegetables such as peppers or chili peppers, carrot slices, silver onions, small ones Cauliflower florets… there are no limits to your imagination. You can also add a little good vinegar (e.g. red wine vinegar). The important thing is that you pour the whole thing with olive oil. All ingredients must be completely covered. Preserved in this way, the home-preserved olives will keep for about a year, provided they are kept cool and dark.
tips and tricks
Use empty plastic water bottles for watering. Fill these with olives and finally with brine to the brim. The opening of the bottles makes it easier for you to change the water. To get to the olives, all you have to do is cut open the bottle.