My Noni used to give me and my brothers each an old cotton pillow case, and send us out on our bikes to pick black olives. It was a job, not much fun involved. Back then there were whole gravel roads lined with olive trees, most are gone now.
Anyhow, I was driving through an area of town that I normally don't drive through because traffic was bad, and I passed a house that has eight olive trees down their driveway, close to my house.
I really didn't want to knock on their door, so I drove by until I saw an old lady bringing up her trash can. I introduced myself and showed her my driver's license to show her that I live in the neighborhood, then asked her if she used her olives. She said no it was too much of a hassle for her these days, but she did many yrs ago. So I asked her if she would mind if I picked a bunch, she said that would be great because she hates cleaning up after the tree's drop their fruit.
From what I remember, my Noni would wash the olives in big tubs of water then pour in a box of Kosher salt and bring the water up to a slight boil, drain and dry the olives and layer and cover them with rock salt and kosher salt for two weeks.
Then she would rinse them in cold water and spread them out on a sheet on the picnic tables in the yard until they were dry, then place the olives in jars with a clove or two of garlic, and a small piece of lemon or orange peel. They would last many months in the basement, covered with a tarp to keep the light off of them.
My long winded question is does this sound about right too, you? I'll most likely only add the garlic and rind to a few jars that will be used right away.
I'm going off of 50+ yrs ago memories, am I missing anything?
I remember she used to cure some with lye as well, but I don't want to deal with that on my first go around, unless I have to.
Furthermore, I'll for sure drop off a few jars to the lady, as a thank you for letting me pick them.
Thank you.
Dan.
Anyhow, I was driving through an area of town that I normally don't drive through because traffic was bad, and I passed a house that has eight olive trees down their driveway, close to my house.
I really didn't want to knock on their door, so I drove by until I saw an old lady bringing up her trash can. I introduced myself and showed her my driver's license to show her that I live in the neighborhood, then asked her if she used her olives. She said no it was too much of a hassle for her these days, but she did many yrs ago. So I asked her if she would mind if I picked a bunch, she said that would be great because she hates cleaning up after the tree's drop their fruit.
From what I remember, my Noni would wash the olives in big tubs of water then pour in a box of Kosher salt and bring the water up to a slight boil, drain and dry the olives and layer and cover them with rock salt and kosher salt for two weeks.
Then she would rinse them in cold water and spread them out on a sheet on the picnic tables in the yard until they were dry, then place the olives in jars with a clove or two of garlic, and a small piece of lemon or orange peel. They would last many months in the basement, covered with a tarp to keep the light off of them.
My long winded question is does this sound about right too, you? I'll most likely only add the garlic and rind to a few jars that will be used right away.
I'm going off of 50+ yrs ago memories, am I missing anything?
I remember she used to cure some with lye as well, but I don't want to deal with that on my first go around, unless I have to.
Furthermore, I'll for sure drop off a few jars to the lady, as a thank you for letting me pick them.
Thank you.
Dan.
