Make Your Own Olives

The local Greek Festival is this weekend (September 3 - 5) in Belmont, California. In the spirit of this event, I thought I would post some of my experiences around olive curing. As you know, olives are a delicacy in Greece...

I have been growing and curing olives for the last few years for my friends and family. I had two small trees in my backyard and they grew a small amount of tiny, but tasty olives.

We moved a couple of months ago, and the new place is void of olive trees. So, I looked and looked and found this great farm in the Central Valley where you can buy olives for curing (or olive oil) for $14/10 pounds. The farm says it should be ready to ship in mid-September.

I have used a great recipe for my formula for curing. It takes about 3 - 4 weeks in total.

If you're an olive enthusiast, I encourage you to order 10 pounds or so and experiment with your own personal olive concoctions. You can get some nice mason jars at your local Safeway or Albertsons to store the olives in and let them ferment a bit. Home cured olives make great gifts or host gifts for dinner parties.

Just a little tip from the KroBlog.