marinating olives

minimooch

I've read various places about marinating olives, but I'm a bit unsure about my starting point.

Given that I dont have an olive tree in my garden, or anywhere to buy them fresh (not that I've ever seen anywhere to buy them fresh in this country), do I just buy a jar of cheap old whole olives in brine from Mr T, and drain, rince, then marinate them in oil, garlic etc and end up with much nicer, more expensive tasting ones?

Thanks all

p.s , can you marinate pitted ones, asn Mr T has some really cheap tinned ones at the mo

Mands

minimooch wrote: »

I've read various places about marinating olives, but I'm a bit unsure about my starting point.

Given that I dont have an olive tree in my garden, or anywhere to buy them fresh (not that I've ever seen anywhere to buy them fresh in this country), do I just buy a jar of cheap old whole olives in brine from Mr T, and drain, rince, then marinate them in oil, garlic etc and end up with much nicer, more expensive tasting ones?

Thanks all

p.s , can you marinate pitted ones, asn Mr T has some really cheap tinned ones at the mo

If you buy ready-marinaded and then rinse, and re-marinade then you should end up with a nice flavour.

I'd be surprised if you can be just-from-the-tree olives or if you'd really want to. The process to get them from just picked to ready to eat is probably longer than most people think.

If you were to have an olive tree outside your kitchen window then you'd need to pick the olives as they ripen. They're green first, then dappled and then black so you can get two basic flavours from one tree but you need to harvest them over several weeks. Having picked the olives and discarded any suspect ones you then need to hit or cut the olive to expose the stone. Then rinse, and rinse again and then rinse again. Then pack the olives into large sealable containers. Fill the containers to the brim with a 10% brine solution and store in a cool, dark place. After three days drain the olives, rinse them and add fresh brine. Repeat for 40 days.

Then drain, rinse and flavour them the way you want them. At that point the olives are edible, until then they are incredibly bitter. Go on, ask how I know

So, going back to your original question if you buy brined olives and rinse them and flavour them you are jumping in at day 40 but without all that effort. Considering the cost of a jar of brined olives that seems a good plan to me.

As a quick solution you can significantly improve the flavour if you just drizzle them with some decent olive oil before you serve them. If you've got a tiny supply of herbs that you can sprinkle over the top that helps too. Something like dill or lemon zest will keep for months in the freezer and defrost by the time you've walked from the kitchen to your guests.

Have olive tree outside the window, still buy pre-prepped olives
Mands

Sublime_2

I prefer buying marinated olives. Much fresher, and very pleasant tasting compared to tinned, which I find rather revolting.

I prefer mine marinated with pickled garlic, chilli, or lemon. I'd never thought to remarinate them. An interesting idea.

hieveryone

I 're-marinate' mines by emptying out the brine and putting in garlic oil and leaving them for 1+ days - taste fantastic!

minimooch

Mands wrote: »

Then drain, rinse and flavour them the way you want them. At that point the olives are edible, until then they are incredibly bitter. Go on, ask how I know

wow thats way more answer than I imagined. So go on then - how do you know and if you tell me you lived on an olive grove in tuscany for 10 years, i shall probably go off in a jealous sulk

minimooch

one more question, If I tip my olives out of their brine, rince and put them back in their jar in a marinade. How long will they keep? (assuming that DH doesnt discover them, because at that point the shelf life is measured in minutes if not seconds)

minimooch

Sublime wrote: »

I prefer buying marinated olives. Much fresher, and very pleasant tasting compared to tinned, which I find rather revolting.

I prefer mine marinated with pickled garlic, chilli, or lemon. I'd never thought to remarinate them. An interesting idea.

I do use the tinned ones for making tapenade, just whizz with extra virgin olive oil, garlic, dash of balsamic and some lemon juice, and fresh basil if you have it

Sublime_2

minimooch wrote: »

I do use the tinned ones for making tapenade, just whizz with extra virgin olive oil, garlic, dash of balsamic and some lemon juice, and fresh basil if you have it

I've made similar once before with anchovies. Tinned would eliminate the need for those.

Diflower

I buy cheap jars of plain, pitted or not, and marinate them myself. Put some or all of them in a clean jar, and add olive oil, dried herbs, a crumbled dried chilli, a few black peppercorns, and optional sliced clove of garlic, sliver of lemon peel. You don't need enough oil to cover them, just a decent amount, and tip the jar every now and then, a couple of hours or so is good, a day is better. It completely transforms them, but obviously works even better if you start with decent olives.

Use dried herbs etc as they don't go off. I tend to do a smallish quantity at a time, keeping the rest of the original jar in the fridge plain. I've certainly kept them marinated for about a week, but not sure how long exactly they'd be ok.

katholicos

I've marinated olives for donkeys years...my ex mother in law, a fabulous italian lady taught me how she made lots of things like salami, pigs head brawn, meatballs, marinated olives etc. I used to buy my olives, pasta, cheese at an italian delicatessen, but it closed a good few years ago and now i find that the olives in morries or even home bargains are quite nice. I drain off the brine, put the olives into a bowl, add a good glug of virgin olive oil, a couple of finely chopped garlic cloves, some salt and oregano (or other dried/fresh herbs). Mix it all together andserve with other antipasti and some fresh crusty bread. Yum!

foxgloves

I've been bujying cheap biggish jars of olives from places like the 99p shop then draining the quantity I want & marinating them overnight in a bit of olive oil, squeeze of lemon, crushed garlic, pinch of chilli flakes, pinch of salt & black pepper & by the time they are in little glass ramekin dishes, I don't think anyone would guess that they are cheapo ones tarted up.