Ailsa explained that they have to be handled with care as they bruise easily so the children helped fill buckets with water so that when the olives are put in them they don’t bash off the bottom. Reaching the olives was a little bit of a problem but with the help of chairs a lot could be reached. After half an hour a whole bucket was filled.
Returning home, Ailsa went through the olives one by one and made sure none were pecked, marked or had bugs in them. Being an olive inspector takes a long time!
From now on the olives will be kept in a bucket of water, submerged with a plate and the water changed daily until they start smelling “olive oiley” this can take from 5-10 days depending on the olives. They are then put into sterilised jars and covered in brine.
Here is the brine recipe – 1 litre of water, 300ml of red wine vinegar, 150 grams of salt (not iodised). Boil together, cool and pour into packed jars of olives. Hide in a dark place for 3 months. YUM! Ready to eat, put on a pizza or use in cooking.
