Well, here we are and it's late April.
If your Olives are green still you can pickle them.
Green Olives
The best for olives under brine are the Manzanello, Verdale , Frantoio and the green Spanish Queen . The large Kalamata are great also .
The Manzanello , Verdale and Frantoio are great for pickling in Brine whole. The Kalamata have to be sliced 2-3 times to accelerate the pickling and the Spanish Queen are best for pickling in Caustic Soda .
The fotos are of our Frantoio and Verdale olives, I did them crushed (see "olive sciacciate") and in brine (see "olive in salamoia.")
I also made some kalamata (our first) as per the "Olives in garlic and chilli under oil" .
Note that I put a slice of lemon on top.
This does 2 things, it acidifies the brine to keep the olives hard and also it stops the olives floating to the top so that they don't go brown and soft if they come into contact with air. Also I put a 1/2 cm layer of oil on top.
Black Olives.
The best for this method are again the Manzanaello, Verdale and the larger Frantoio. The Spanish Queen are too watery for this process.
These are dead easy to make. Just wash the olives and cover in salt (see my Mothers recipe for black olives)
Then place a weight on them of approx 5-10 kg. Each day agitate for approx 6-7 days. They will produce a dark brine that is frothy. This is fine. All olives ferment as part of the pickling process and convert the sugars to Lactic acid.
After this drain and place on a table to dry for 1 day. Then cover with a splash of EVOO and place in vacuum bags. Some people freeze the olives, others cover them in oil (I find that this makes the lives too "heavy")
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