To prepare the olives for brining
you need to place them in a container covered with clean cold water. Change the water daily for 3 weeks.
Rinse, place the olives in clean, sterilized jars on their own or with seasoning of your choice:
- Lemon zest with lemon thyme and pink peppercorns
- Orange zest with rosemary
- Thyme and chilli
- Rosemary and chilli
- Lemon zest and lemon verbena
- Garlic cloves, peeled
Prepare the brine:
For 3kg olives I used
750ml red or brown wine vinegar
2 liters cold water
60ml table salt
Pour the brine over the olives, ensuring that they are all covered. If you are short by a few millilitres, simply top up with water as the vinegar and salt proportion does not have to be accurate!
Add a dash of olive oil to cover the surface of each jar
Allow the bottled olives to stand for 6-8 weeks before enjoying
I find if you keep them for over a year they tend to become soggy. If this happens use them for tapenade (savoury olive pâté)
