Pickling olives, advice please.

[tulip*place]

Hi, bought a bag of green olives at the fruit shop yesterday.  Never tried pickling before and have had

a look on the net to see how to do it.  I know it's a long process, eg 6 month before they are edible. Has anyone pickled olives and could offer advice.

[j*oono]

I would like advice too if anyone has any.  I have a kalamata olive tree and I'm not sure whether to try soaking and marinating them.

My dog bites the lower ones right off the tree and eats them!  Stone and all.  

[catsnknots]

I would like to know if anyone hae pickled onions... those small ones... 

sits back and waits... 

[i-need-a-martini]

My mum does them (italian style) every year.

She just squashes them a little to open them up and seals them in a jar of water and rock salt. She puts a lemon on the top to stop them reaching the air pocket at the top.

We've eaten them like this a week later. They taste bitter as all hell but are still edible. Not everyone would appreciate the taste tho lol but we are used to it in our family cause we can't wait to get stuck in lol!

The longer they stay in the less bitter they get. About 3 months is good. I have a jar she did a year ago that I forgot about and the olives were still good all that time later.

You can eat them out straight out of the jar or 'dress' them with olive oil, a touch of vinegar and a tiny bit of chilli.

[j*oono]

Martini if you are still around.  Do you have to change the water every day?  I was worried about that because I would probably forget to do it.  Also, how salty is the water?  The lemon on the top sounds like a good idea.  I'm going to give this a go.

[i-need-a-martini]

No need to change the water, joono. 

My mum usually bottles them the same day we pick them and then she hands me a couple of jars same day. I open them when I remember. Although I do vaguely recall seeing olives soaking in a bowls for a few hours. Not sure if this is before bottling or if she is using them for something else. I'll ask her tomorrow or the day after and come back to the thread.

I don't know how salty. If I say brine salty does this makes sense? Saltier than sea water at any rate. The salt is the thing that makes them less bitter.

[the_bob_delusion]

YUM, sorry, that's my only contribution. 

[j*oono]

Thanks Martini.  Yes, brine makes sense.  I've been meaning to give it a go for a few years now but mostly it hasn't had a whole load of fruit and it gets blown away by the rotten easterlies.  This year there are quite a lot. and plenty of them are ripe.  The tree is probably five or six years old now but it used to be in a big pot.  It has done much better in the ground.

[j*oono]

Here we go.  Bottled on 29th.  I tried squashing them a bit but I was squishing juice all over myself.  

Martini, mine are quite green and mushy inside.  Is that normal?  I decided to do a slice with a sharp knife from top down.  

[**meep**]

this is how i would do them

http://www.homelife.com.au/recipe/how+to+preserve+fresh+olives,5363