Title: To Cure or Prepare Black Italian Olives.
Categories: Pickle Italian Info
Yield: 4 Servings

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It's my understanding that the most commonly grown olives in Italy are Moraiolo, Frantoio, Pendolino and Leccino varieties. I imagine getting those specific varieties may be rather difficult, depending on where you live, but a decent fascimile could be made, I'm sure, with any ripe olive.

If you're starting with raw olives, straight from the tree, you'll need to cure them first. A brine cure is the easiest and safest way to handle that. Just immerse the fully colored, ripe olives in a solution of 8 oz of salt to 1 gallon of water for one week. Change the solution to 16 oz salt to a gallon of water and soak for another week. Continuing to make up a fresh solution of 16 oz salt to 1 gallon water each week, soak the olives for 30 to 40 days, checking periodicly for bitterness. When the desired taste is reached, remove the olives from the brine and rinse them well.

Pack them into quart jars 2/3 full, along with a couple of lemon slices and garlic cloves. Cover with a solution of 1 cup vinegar, 1 Tblsp salt and 1 cup water, leaving about an inch of headspace. Add 1/4 tsp oregano and top the jar with about a half inch of olive oil. Store the jar upside down for a week, then turn right side up. Olives will keep for a year.

These are delicious! Using a brine cure rather than lye, makes for a much tastier end result in my opinion. After tasting these, you'll doubtless have a difficult time eating those bland, tasteless store bought ripe olives again. Have fun! -Julie From: Ajtarsha

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