Prep
40 minutes, plus 2–4 weeks curing
Cook
None
Serves
2 large jars
Difficulty
Moderate
Region
Southern Italy
What you’ll need
Ingredients
- 4⅓ lb fresh green olives
- Cold water, for soaking
- ⅞ cup coarse sea salt per 8½ cups of water
- 2 lemons, sliced
- 1 tbsp fennel seeds
- 3 garlic cloves
- Extra-virgin olive oil, to finish Extra Virgin Olive Oil →
At the stove
Instructions
- 1
Crack each olive with a flat stone or the side of a knife, breaking the flesh without crushing the pit.
- 2
Cover with cold water and soak, changing the water twice a day for 8–12 days, until the bitterness fades.
- 3
Make a brine of ⅞ cup salt to 8½ cups of water and bring it to the boil, then cool completely.
- 4
Pack the olives into clean jars with lemon, fennel and garlic and cover with the cold brine.
- 5
Keep them submerged with a weight and store somewhere cool for 2–4 weeks, tasting as you go.
- 6
Once cured, dress portions with olive oil before serving.
Recipe notes
Safety note: home olive curing depends on adequate salt and keeping the olives submerged. Discard any batch that smells wrong, grows mould, or has been exposed to air.
Curing time depends on the variety, the size and how deeply you cracked them.
Context
Cracking and brining olives at home is a documented autumn task across southern Italy, timed to the harvest and repeated each year.
Sources: Editorial adaptation of documented southern Italian household preserving, Ro & Ti Kitchen
The pieces used here
From the Kitchen
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