Olives are an inevitable food in the pantry, an ingredient to enrich many dishes or the typical aperitif-saver. Here's how to prepare and season them at home
Let's face it: there cannot be an aperitif without it olives. One leads to another, like cherries. For this reason, it is good to always have them at home, to be served with chips, to whet the appetite.
And then an olive is never just an olive. The other day, in fact, I was at the market and there were so many varieties on the benches, and above all, all seasoned in a different and tasty way: spicy, garlic, parsley …
So, after buying some to have the stock in the pantry, I thought I'd make them at home. Here's how I did it. Below is the procedure for making the olives in brine and some advice on which ones aromas or spices use to dress them, while in our gallery I reveal some more curiosities about this fruit with a thousand beneficial nutritional properties.
Brine: debittering
If you buy or collect natural olives, you cannot eat them directly, as they have a bitter taste. So first go deamarizzate. There are two procedures. The first provides immersion in water: the olives must be covered completely and left in the liquid for two weeks, taking care to change the water twice a day. The second one instead, foresees the use of the sodium hydroxide: dip the olives, only after adding the soda to the water. Leave them covered with a cotton cloth for about 10 hours. Once ready, remove them and wash them at least 4 times with running water to remove the soda from the surface.
Brine: the process
After having oligarchized the olives, proceed with the brine, which includes 3 steps. The doses are intended for 1 kg of olives. Boil 1.5 liters of water with the addition of 120 grams of salt. Let the water cool, pour it into a container with a cap and immerse the olives. Close but without sealing, so as to let the fermentation gases out. Store the jar in the dark for a month. After a month, repeat the water boiling process, but this time adding 150 grams of salt. While the water is boiling, drain the olives from the first brine. Pour the second brine into the jar, dip the olives, close without sealing and place in the dark for another month. Finally, the third and last brine is identical as the procedure to the first two, only that it is less loaded with salt: only 90 g per 1.5 lt of water. The olives will be ready for consumption one month after this brine.
Seasoned olives: crushed Sicilian
Olives are good this way, natural, but they are even better seasoned. Such as? For example crushed, or rather large and fleshy olives crushed precisely with a meat tenderizer (or with a stone, according to the Sicilian tradition), first passed in brine and then rinsed, flavored with vinegar, garlic, chilli, oregano, parsley, bay leaves and fennel seeds and then preserved in oil, ready for use.
Olives seasoned with vegetables
Also from Sicily, this other seasoning variant arrives: after having passed the olives in brine, let them dry on a cloth for a few hours. Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables with which to season them: cut the onions into small cubes, clean the celery of their filaments and cut them into slices and cut the carrots into slices. Take a glass jar, where you put the olives together with the vegetables, cover with plenty of olive oil and two tablespoons of white vinegar, then add salt and pepper to taste. Serve as an aperitif or appetizer.
Olives seasoned with Roman
For this version, you need black olives, olive oil, salt and orange peel. Pass the black olives under water, then let them dry on a cloth. Chop the orange peels and dip them in a bowl with extra virgin olive oil, to which the dry olives are added later. Season with salt, leave to rest in the fridge for 12 hours, then serve on the table.
Olives with herbs or chilli
Do you like the spicy taste? Season them with the chili pepper like this: wash the olives, put them in a baking dish and dress them with a little oil. Add a few cloves of garlic and a bit of crumbled pepper. Stir and set aside in the fridge. After a few hours, they will be ready to be served. Do you prefer a decidedly less strong flavor? Repeat the process, but add only the parsley or oregano, for a fresher taste.
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