---------- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.04
 
      Title: TWO METHODS TO CURE OLIVES
 Categories: Can/cure
      Yield: 1 Info
 
           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 monthlong 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 garge
  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.
  
  Source: Country Living
 
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