Green olives

Our olive trees in the garden bore a lot of fruit this year so we thought we would try and cure them ourselves.

Bash each olive with a rolling pin so that the skin cracks. This takes a long time and will stain your chopping board with olive oil!

Rinse and then place in a glass bowl with a plate over the top to weigh the olives down. Place in a cool, dark place and change the water every day. Leave for 10 days.

1 1/2 litre water
3 tbsp salt
3 lemons, cubed
2 tbsp dried herbs
2 cups white vinegar
10 cloves garlic
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
Olive oil

Boil the water and dissolve all the salt.
Rinse the olives and then cover with the salt brine.
Add the lemons, herbs, vinegar, garlic, cumin and coriander and stir.
Cover the surface with olive oil.
Leave in a cool, dark place for at least two weeks.
They will keep for around 2 months.

The pictures show the olives after harvest in the red bowl, after soaking in water and then the final solution with lemons etc.