But you only have three days.....

ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DH is (sort of) capable of draining and adding fresh water.... he might be up to the task. Then again, I'm sure there will be more available on Friday!

Alexa

Alexa: I have a whole file on the various methods and even some recipes at the end, and will send it by email. Hope it helps.

Funny, I was reading a book on preserving food last night (part of the Time Life series) and it has a recipe for curing olives in wood ash.

kframe: Which book is that exactly because that sounds interesting. Perhaps you're aware that lye is an extract of wood ash.

My question is: who ever figured out how to make certain foods palatable by doing these weird things to it?

"Perhaps you're aware that lye is an extract of wood ash."

What most people think of as lye, the Red Devil brand that was available for years, is sodium hydroxide.

Lye made from wood ash is potassium hydroxide.

Anyway, it's one of the Time Life series that came out on cooking some years ago. One of their multi-book sets. It was the preserving foods one.

It's downstairs right now, and I'm up for the night. I'll try to remember tomorrow.

I didn't know that olive trees grew in Pennsylvania, that a new lesson for me!

Did you buy green olives or black olives? Personally, I've never wanted to go through the trouble of curing my own olives, and I've never wanted an olive tree - fig trees are messy enough. I've also found that the home-cured olives I've bought at the farmers' markets were not as good (for my taste) as commercially preserved ones, and so I think the process is somewhat tricky, possibly as complicated as making wine - another chore I will not tackle.

OTOH, I do intend to make my own kimchi in the near future. I've bought pickled okra at the farmers' market that I loved, however, but I do think I can improve on the kimchi that I buy. It either has too much anchovy or not enough or is too hot or not hot enough.

Lars

Here's the recipe my DH and his Cousin use and everyone raves about them.

Lye-Cured Green Olives
Use olives that are mature but still green.
Rinse olives with water and place into glass jars.
Purchase lye in cleanser section of the grocery store.
Determine how much lye solution you need to cover olives.
Add a ratio of 1 qt water (65 to 70o) to 1 Tbsp of lye.
Soak for 12 hours.
Drain olives and soak 12 hours more in a fresh lye solution.
Drain and rinse. Cut into largest olive; if the lye has reached the pit the lye is complete.
If necessary soak in a fresh lye bath 12 more hours, drain and rinse with cold water.
Soak the olives in fresh cold water, changing the water (3) three times a day for the next 3 days; until the water is clear.
At the end of three days taste an olive to make sure that there is no lye trace of flavor.
Next soak olives for at least (1) one day in a brine solution; ratio 6 Tbsp salt to 1 gallon water. At this point you can add garlic cloves if you wish.
The olives are now ready to eat. Store in the brine solution in the refrigerator.

Linda P

In CA we have trouble buying lye in any regular store because it's used in the process of making Meth. and so requires all sort of paperwork.... like buying a gun. Also, I was told it wasn't safe to use any lye from the cleaning area of the stores; what is used in olive processing is something different or doesn't have the additives the cleaning ones do. That's all I've been told, and I have no personal experience. I couldn't get any this year and so used the salt brine method.

I almost bought some fresh olives last week, so Alexa's post is very timely.

Here's the recipe I was going to try:

Anzonini's Water-cured Green Olives

From: The Feast of the Olive Maggie Blyth Klein

"This pungent recipe was given to me by a Spanish gypsy; it is almost identical to the method for making the green olives of Provence called olives cassées." --Maggie Blythe Klein

5 pounds green mature olives
1-1/2 quarts water
3 tablespoons salt
2 lemons, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 cups white wine vinegar
6 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
2 tablespoons cumin seeds, crushed in a mortar
Olive Oil

Crack the flesh of the olives with a rolling pin, or by hitting each one individually with a hammer. Rinse with cold water. Place them in a stoneware, earthenware, glass, or porcelain jar and cover with cold water. Weight them with a piece of wood or a plastic bag filled with water (to keep the olives submerged) and keep them in a dark, cool place for ten days, changing the water every day.

Boil the water and dissolve the salt in it. Empty the liquid from the jar in which the olives have been soaking; rinse the olives in cold water and cover the olives with the salt brine. Mix in the lemons, oregano, vinegar, garlic, and cumin. Float enough olive oil on top to cover the surface. Store in a cool place at least two weeks. To make a more interesting mixture, add a few store-bought Kalamata olives. Store in a cool, dark place. The olives keep quite well for at least two months.

Michelle

I've forgotten to post the recipe for the ash cured olives...

I'll send myself a note.