Recipe: Two Methods to Cure Olives - Salt Cure or Brine Cure

TWO METHODS TO CURE OLIVES
Source: Country Living

Olives
Salt

TO SALT CURE RIPE OLIVES:
Use small unbruised black or purplish-black olives. Cover bottom of clean slatted wooden box (such as a fruit lug or a flat rectangular basket with a double layer of cheesecloth. Rinse olives in cold water and put a layer on bottom of box. Cover damp olives with a layer of uniodized or pickling salt. (For each pound of olives, you'll need at least a pound of salt for the month long process.) Repeat layering olives and salt, then cover the entire batch with a final layer of salt and another piece of cloth. Set box into a tray or cardboard box so that the liquid that seeps out will not stain the countertop or floor; store in cool basement or garage and let stand one week. After a week, uncover and transfer olives and salt to another container. Re-layer olives with additional salt in the same cloth-lined box for about three to four days. Repeat layering and salting olives every four days for one month, using new salt each time, until olives are wrinkled and lose enough bitterness to be edible. (If any mold appears on the olives, rinse mold off with cold water and soak olives in bowl of distilled white vinegar for one hour, then return to salt. Otherwise, there is no need to rinse the olives in water before returning them to the salt cure.) In batches, remove cured olives from salt; place them in a large strainer or a colander. Dip strainer or colander into saucepan of boiling water for a few seconds. Drain blanched olives and rinse with cold tap water. (Repeat this step with remaining olives, changing boiling water whenever it gets too salty-after about every 12th dip.) Spread olives out on paper towels to dry for a few hours or overnight. Place olives in jars and cover with olive oil. If desired, mix in herbs, hot peppers, garlic, vinegar, or grated orange or lemon rind. Store sealed jars in the refrigerator. The olives will keep for at least one month. Dry-cured olives may also stored in new salt in airtight containers for up to six months in the refrigerator. Before using salt-stored olives, rinse and dry the fruits.

TO BRINE CURE GREEN OR RIPE OLIVES:
Use mature fully colored green or dark-red to purplish-black olives. The ripe olives may fade in color during curing but they will darken again when exposed to air. With small knife, slash each olive to its pit three times. Rinse in water. Place rinsed and drained olives in one-quart glass jars, filling them 3/4 full. Cover the olives with a brine containing 3/4 cup uniodized or pickling salt dissolved in a gallon of water. Insert a small, sealed food-storage bag filled with 1/4 cup water into each jar to keep olives immersed in brine. Screw on the lid loosely and refrigerate. After one week, replace the brine with a mixture of 1 2/3 cups salt per gallon of water. After 15 days replace the brine with another mixture of 1 2/3 cups salt per gallon of water. Replace the brine at 1-month intervals for additional two to three months. If you keep the olives airtight in brine, you can store them for at least one year. You can eat these olives within two months if you like fairly-bitter olives. Use them for cooking or season them for appetizers. To reduce their saltiness, soak the olives in fresh water three days. Store any uneaten desalted olives in the refrigerator in a solution of one part red or white wine vinegar to two parts water and float a layer of olive oil on top to preserve them.