my latest

And so my latest food adventure is curing olives. I had wanted to try this last fall, but was just barely too late to order olives. So this year I was ready and waiting, and at the end of September I placed my order of 10lbs of organic green olives. They were so bright and green, they looked like little tiny green apples.

The only real pain of the job was having to mash and split (or slice) every single olive. That was a bit tedious! But it's a must, so that the bitterness can leach out.Now about two weeks later, look at the color change! They're looking like olives now. The two jars on the left are undergoing a water curing, while the one on the right is undergoing a salt-water curing...which is going far better, I must say. Next year I'm thinking the salt-water cure is the way to go. But we still have to wait a few more weeks to find out for sure. Once the bitterness is gone, the olives then have to cure briefly in a flavored brine. After that, they'll keep up to a year in the fridge. And for our olive-loving family, I hope they last that long!