This weekend we were picking olives on our trees. There was a bumper crop on the 12 trees that we have planted on our property.
The warm dry climate and the soil seem to be ideal for growing olives on the Island.
We needed to have a delivery truck, bring us a load of water last week, as we have not had rain in ages.
We had to make a cross slit in each olive, that will allow the water and salt to penetrate the fruit drawing the bitterness and also preserving them.
They need to be soaked in the brine for about 10 - 12 days, changing the brine every day.
Then they can be poured into glass jars left plain or with garlic, or lemon juice to flavour.
I will go on the lookout for some nice glass jars to store them in. I do like those antique stone jars and the very nice old glass jars.
I am not fond of olives, but I can eat them. I love olive oil and use that all the time.
What put me off them, was when I was young and eating a salad and what I thought was a grape turned out to be an olive.
It was fun though harvesting them and to get a crop from the trees we had planted was exciting and to be able to share them with those that do enjoy olives.
Do you like olives?
I hope that you are having an enjoyable weekend
Hugs
Carolyn
Hi Carloyn, I was just about to come visit you when I saw your comment.
ReplyDeleteYes, I love olives and always have. I can see how thinking you were eating a grape would be awful for a child. LOL
I hope you get some rain soon.
Thanks for stopping by and your kind comments.
Good Luck in my giveaway.
Have a wonderful weekend.
hugs, Celestina Marie
OMG Carolyn,
ReplyDeleteI love olives, in fact I just ate a bunch tonight. I guess since I am Italian I have been eating them since I was little.
How wonderful to have your own trees.
I have never heard of a truck bringing you water like that before.
See how sheltered I am?
Anyway, I am very impressed.
By the way, the weather has warmed up here. Thank you!
Chat again soon,
Rosemary
Hi Celestina Marie,
ReplyDeletethank you so much for visiting my blog and your kind comments.
I am still thinking of your wonderful work studio and how everything is so beautiful.
Hi Rosemary,
thank you for visiting.
We have two olive lovers, so far.
We live on an Island and the only water supply is that which falls from the sky. The rain is stored in our water tank and when that gets low over Summer, we have to buy a tanker load to keep us going.
Sometimes we have to buy it about 3 times a year.
Glad that the weather has warmed up for you.
Hugs
Carolyn
Wow, thank you for explaining how to preserve the olives. I have always wondered about that. I've always wondered about the cross slit in the olive, too! Thanks! I wish I could try your olives once their prepared.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the sweet comments you just left on my blog! You're awesome! I love your visits! :)
Hi TattingChic,
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting and your lovely comments.
I will have to send you a sample of them when they are ready.
My husband sampled one tonight and he said most of the bitterness had gone from them.
Reading the notes on how to preserve your olives - they did say that you will notice the diffence from the manufactured ones, so we will have to see.
Hugs
Carolyn
I am with you Carolyn I do not really like olives I do eat them sometimes but I love olive oil !.. just a piece of nice bread dipped in olive oil!..yum.
ReplyDeletehope you have had a nice weekend.
xxx Mona
Oh, wow! That's a lot of work for someone who doesn't like olives, but I can understand the reward of growing and making something yourself to share with others. I can't say I'm an olive lover. I have to be in the mood and prepared for the strong flavor. But when I'm in the mood, I love them. I especially love them with garlic and red pepper flakes. Yummm!
ReplyDeleteThanks Mona, yes I did have a lovely weekend, but it went a little too quickly though.
ReplyDeleteHi Bella,
It is nice when you grown something yourself and it then produces fruit. I am hoping to use chilli and garlic to flavour them, to see if I like them better.
Looking forward to sharing with others that like olives.
Hugs
Carolyn
I'm like you - love olive oil but don't like olives! Love those glass jars.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE olives but even more I love olive trees..Ever since visiting Umbria and staying in an olive grove..I miss their sight !
ReplyDeleteI marveled at the markets selling small ones in clay pots for the home and wished I could have brought one home.
They are beautiful trees..You are very lucky!
Yes, I do like olives. Some members of my family don't and if there are any in salads or on pizza, then I get more since they pick them off. I especially love jalapeno stuffed olives. Not all grocery stores carry them and when I find them, I purchase several bottles.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your wonderful comments on my blog and thanks for this peek into olive preserving.
That is so cool Carolyn.
ReplyDeleteI love olives. But I have never even thought of them being picked. I always just imagined they grew in jars.
xoxoxo
Hi Catherine,
ReplyDeleteThey are something that you either love or not like.
My Mother has some of those glass jars, at home that she probably had from the 1950's.
Hi La Table de Nana,
The very old olive trees must be a beautiful sight over in Italy, because some of them are over 1000 years old. I love the old clay pots too.
Hi Dolores,
My husband gets the overflow of the olives on pizza and salads that I don't eat ~ handy that.
Hi Renee,
You are so lovely and such a special Lady.
Thank you to all, for visiting.
Hugs
Carolyn
Carolyn:
ReplyDeleteTu blog es Dulce, Bello, Tierno. Me encanta !!!
Un abrazo Marta
HI Carolyn...How wonderful that you could harvest such a bumper crop. Olives are one of my favourite foods.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it funny how things we do as a child can so influence our adulthood?!
Love the bluish mason jars...such a pretty color.
Have a wonderful Monday!
Hugs, Nancy
Thank you so much for visiting Marta and Nancy, always lovely to read your
ReplyDeletecomments.
Yes, it is very exciting having our first real harvest.
We were told by a friend that had lived in Italy that for the first few years you remove all the little flowers and tiny olives off and then the crop will be better.
Seems to have worked.
Hugs
Carolyn
Hi Hon,I'm so glad you wrote this post.We have two olive trees in great big planters we keep in our greenhouse.We don't know to much about them.Do you know how many years it takes them to produce the olives and do they require a male and female tree? You can't grow them in the ground here.Anyway thats what my hubby told me.They would freeze.Thank you sweetie...XXOO Marie Antionette
ReplyDeleteWhat a neat process! I love olives in potato salads and enchiladas. Yum! :D
ReplyDeleteI love olives-green or black. I also use olive oil in most of my cooking-I think it adds great flavor to a dish. How wonderful that you have your own olive trees. I would be eating olives all the time if I had olive trees in the yard!
ReplyDeleteHi Marie Antoinette,
ReplyDeleteOur trees have been in about 4 years and as far as I know you do not need a male and female tree, like feijoas.
Yes, they do need dry hot conditions and I am sure a green house would be ideal. Good luck and I hope they give you some olives.
Thanks Jessica and Kim for visiting ~ seems like most enjoy olives.
Hugs
Carolyn
Hi Carolyn,
ReplyDeleteI love niçoise olives and buy them at the gourmet store and could eat a whole container (a small one) easily and have when craving something salty. How wonderful you've got so many olive trees on your property! Thank you for your well wishes about our few days off - will talk to you when we get back. Happy week!
xo~Tracie
Thank you for visiting Tracie and I hope that your few days away are lovely.
ReplyDeleteHugs
Carolyn
Hi Carolyn, Just returned from a few days away and am playing 'catch up'.
ReplyDeleteI adore green olives, with herbs and garlic or stuffed with pimento or lemon peel. In fact, we bought some olives, some camembert and a baguette for our picnic lunch yesterday.
We once stayed in a beautiful old olive grove in Corfu, and were there when they harvested the olives, in nets spread on the ground.
Camomile grew beneath the trees; a Greek lady was picking the flowers which she indicated were 'for the stomach'.
Hi Lynda,
ReplyDeleteLoved the romantic thought of living in Corfu in a beautiful olive grove.
Your picnic lunch sounds good.
Hugs
Carolyn
MOTH & I are very envious Carolyn! We just love olives & if allowed MOTH would put them on his Weeties!
ReplyDeleteYou have much in common with Vicki A. over @ French Essence who works very hard to bring their olive harvest in.
Millie ^_^
Hi Millie,
ReplyDeleteLoved the thought of Moth having olives at breakie time.
We will be picking some more this weekend, so that will be fun.
Hugs
Carolyn
Yum yum, I wish i could taste your olives!
ReplyDeleteI would love to see more photos of your olive trees unless you already posted them on that blog).
I just joined your blog, so I still have a lot to discover!
XXXXX
Sophie.
Hi Sophie,
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my blog and I wish you could come and try our olives too.
Best wishes with your new blog and I look forward to going back to see what you are up to.
Hugs
Carolyn
WOW... you make your own olives... I'm impressed... those look FAB!
ReplyDeleteHi Fifi,
ReplyDeleteI bottled them yesterday and have spent the time changing the brine every day - it takes out the bitterness.
We will be picking some more in the weekend and this lot we will take to one of the big Olive growing places and will get them to press them for olive oil.
Hugs
Carolyn
A post to warm a Greek girl's heart! Thank you! I have just made one of the pics as my desktop wallpaper.
ReplyDeleteGlad that you could use a photo for your desk top wallpaper.
ReplyDeleteHugs
Carolyn