How to Make Greek Olives at Home

Greek Olives, Original Greek Recipe, from the Demis Family of Denver, and the Zervas Family of Los Angeles

Don’t think you need to live in the Mediterranean to prepare home-canned olives. If you live in California, you can pick a case right off wild trees growing above the highways in Los Angeles. If you live elsewhere, and have a friend who can ship a crate of fresh-picked olives to you, you can do them anywhere.

Ingredients:

Fresh olives, picked off a tree (up to one crate)

Olive oil

Apple cider vinegar

Fresh garlic

Lemons

Salt

Oregeno

Materials:

Plastic buckets (up to six, if doing a whole crate of olives)

Plastic vat

Mason jars, or mayonnaise jars

Save all your large glass jars from things like mayonnaise, Nescafé, or even peanut butter. Any jars with a tight-fitting lid will do, and plastic lids are great, as the olive jars are cold-packed with brine, and do not need to be sterilized.

Sort olives into three colors: black, red, and green (as each will require different soaking times). The only difference between colors is their degree of ripeness.

Slit olives lengthwise three times, using either a thin knife, or a razor blade. Try to distribute the cuts equally around the olive, and try not to make the cuts touch deeply to the seed (as that will tend to make them fall apart later). As this is quite an endeavor, it’s a great project to get several friends together, and sit around in a circle, talking, while spending a day or two cutting olives.

Fill small to medium-sized buckets half, to two-thirds full of cut olives. Fill remainder of bucket with cold water. Let the olives soak to get the bitterness out. It is very important to CHANGE THE WATER DAILY. Thus, the importance of not using large buckets–a large bucket filled with water and olives, which you will need to lift to the sink and pour out DAILY will be quite heavy. If you are tempted to skip days, the olives will get ruined (take my word for it; it’s happened to us). With a small or medium-sized bucket, it’s easy to pour out the water while holding a plate over the top, so the olives don’t fall out. Refill with cold tap water.

Let the olives soak until you can eat one with just a slight taste of bitterness. This usually takes three-to-four weeks. Black olives will take the least time, red a few days longer, and green even a few more days.

Next, prepare a SATURATED saline solution (in cold tap water; do NOT use hot water). (A saturated solution means that you have put in as much salt as is possible to completely dissolve in the water.) Let olives soak for three days in the saturated solution. After three days, pour olives into clean sink, and drain.

Slice plenty of lemons into long wedge-shaped slices. If you are using very large lemons, those wedges can be cut in half. Clean plenty of garlic. A small-sized mayonnaise jar will take about two large (or four small) lemon wedges, and four cloves of garlic. A large-sized mayonnaise jar will take four large lemon slices and about eight cloves of garlic. Have plenty of oregano ready (like a half-gallon volume, or more). Mild oregano from Greece or Italy is preferred over strong Mexican or North African oregano; but feel free to use whatever kind is available to you.

Place olives in a large vat, or plastic container. Throw in a good quantity of oregano so that it looks like a lot is sitting on top of the olives. Pour on some olive oil (if you have a whole vat, start with two or three cups, and add more if necessary). Mix olives gently with hands, so as not to bruise them. Mix until all olives are well-covered in oil and oregano.

Have jars ready (clean, but no need to sterilize), and put a wedge of lemon with two cloves of garlic on bottom. Fill jar half full with olives. Put in another wedge of lemon and clove or two of garlic. Fill up jar with olives. Add another wedge of lemon and clove of garlic. Add more throughout if you are doing a very large jar. Shake olives gently, so that they settle down in the jar. HOWEVER, DO NOT PACK OLIVES ANY HIGHER THAN WITHIN ONE-HALF-INCH (ONE CENTIMETER) FROM THE TOP.

Now, fill the bottles half full with cider vinegar, and the remaining half with saturated saline solution (brine). BE SURE OLIVES ARE SUBMERGED (or they will spoil). Add one-quarter inch (one-half centimeter) of olive oil on the top. Put lids on tight.

Let olives sit for at least one month to absorb taste. (But you can try a bottle after one week, and they will still be pretty good, if you just can’t wait!)

In Morocco, olives are made similarly, but without the lemon or garlic.

Madame Monet

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