Harvesting Olives

Well about 10 years ago we planted a few olive trees, we were living in Melbourne at the time and just visiting our farm on weekends. They are producing plenty of olives but last years effort to preserve them was a disaster and they ended up in the compost . This year I have a bumper crop, a good friend from Swan Hill has  passed on the following recipe to try.

Cracked Olives

5 kg Green Olives ( best when turning dark green to light green)

1 litre White vinegar.                           ½  litre Good Olive Oil

250grm Salt                                          2 litres Water

*Crack Olives by placing on wooden board and using a firm object to crack open

and remove pip. Place in clean jars.

*mix salt with some of the water to dissolve it.

*Stir all well together and pour on top of the olives (cracked and in clean jars)

*On top of jars use green aniseed stalks to hold down olives under liquid.

*Top with a little extra olive oil.

Cracked olives take around 2-3 weeks before being ready to eat

Whole olives take around 4-5 weeks