Where can I buy raw green olives

avantra

I really don't like the green olives in jars or as found in Market stalls as these usually pickled in North Africa/Spain/Greece which is not my forte. I really like the olives sold across markets in the middle east in brine but can't find any in my area.

I was given a Syrian or Jordenian pickling recipe which look like the real thing but I need un pickled raw green olives.

Does any one know where I can buy them in the UK?

Seakay

I don't really see how you could get hold of raw olives unless you grow them yourself. As I understand it they have to be processed quite soon after harvest or they start to dry up

andthethreebears

As above, I don't think you will be able to buy these commercially, you may have to find someone who grows them, or plant a tree yourself!

Olives have to be processed in some way (pickled / crushed etc) to make then edible / storable

Haffiana

I have seen them for sale in Greek and Iranian shops, and have bought and pickled them here in the UK as well as in when I lived in the Middle East. However the season is short, and it is in the Autumn not surprisingly, so you would have to wait until next year.

The vast majority of green olives are cut or pricked and then brine pickled initially to get rid of their intense bitterness, and only after that in other flavourings. Some olives are initially softened in a mild lye solution, and then brine pickled - this means that the skin can be left entire. It might be these that you don't like? Although lye is used as extensively in the Middle East as anywhere else....

Brining causes the bacterial production of lactic acid which causes the 'pickled' taste of an olive, rather than a purely salty taste. Some canned and mass-produced olives can accelerate the brining by adding various acids including non-fermented lactic acid. This creates a different tasting olive - rather bland, mild and nondescript, perfect for Western/English taste buds. I suspect it is simply these mass-produced olives you don't like!

What I would call good olives are sold in Persian/Iranian and Greek or Cypriot shops.

avantra

Thank you Haffiana,

Next autumn I will look for some in my area of Bristol.

I bought the olives below from a market stall in Jerusalem last year and it is a different planet to what is sold in the shops and markets.

The olives has a cut made to each one by hand.