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To Cure Olives

A method for curing olives using lye and successive salt solutions.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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To Cure Olives

Ingredients

Directions

Lye treatment

  1. Soak the olives in ½ pound of lye mixed with 10 gallons of water for 12 hours.

  2. Change to clear water and soak for 1 day.

  3. Return to the same lye and water mixture for another 12 hours or until the lye has almost penetrated the pit.

  4. Change to clear water for 8 to 10 days, changing the water twice a day until all lye is removed.

Salt curing

  1. Soak in a 4% salt solution for 3 days.

  2. Soak in clear water for 1 day.

  3. Soak in a 6% salt solution for 3 more days.

  4. Soak in clear water for 1 day.

  5. Soak in an 8% salt solution for a few days.

  6. Rinse in clear water and store in the final 8% salt solution.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Lye
Breaks down the bitter compounds in the olive flesh so the fruit becomes edible.
Salt
Draws out moisture and preserves the olives while the brine strength is raised step by step.

The step that matters

Removing all the lye. Lye is caustic, and any left in the fruit makes it harsh and unsafe to eat. Repeated water changes over 8 to 10 days wash it out, so the olives should be tested for lye removal before moving to salt.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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