This accompanies this column

Water-curing olives

Wash the picked olives and pat them dry. With a small sharp knife, cut a slit the full length of one side of each olive.

Place them in a bowl and cover with cold water.

Keep the bowl in a cool place away from sunlight.

A day later you will see that the water has discoloured. This is the result of the water drawing out the glucoside, a phenolic compound called oleuropein.

Once a day, empty the water out, fill it again, roil them around in the water to wash them, and drain again.

Fill with water to cover and leave for 24 hours. Repeat this process once a day for three weeks.

Water and salt-curing olives

This process is similar to the water-cured method above but also uses salt. The brine needs to be 1:10 (that is, one part salt to 10 parts water). To test whether there is sufficient salt, a test known as the egg method is used. Once you have stirred the salt into the water, put a raw whole egg in and see if it floats. If it sinks, add a little more salt and test again. When the egg floats on the surface, there is enough salt in the water. Follow the method as above, but reset the salt: water ratio after every daily water change. Olives cured in this way should be ready for brining in oil and aromatics in three weeks IF they are slit first as per the above method. If they are not slit, it will take as long as three to six months. The only way to test whether they are ready for brining is to taste one and decide if the bitterness is still too deep for your palate.

Preserving and bottling the olives

For the solution, the ratio of salt to water is 1:6 parts.

Ingredients

¼ cup coarse sea salt with no preservatives etc, not iodated salt

½ cup red wine vinegar

1 ½ cups water

1 lemon, sliced

2 cloves garlic

1 chilli

1 or 2 rosemary sprigs

Olive oil

Method

After the water- or salt- and water curing described above, they’re ready for bottling, and as you can see I was looking for the flavour of those Selfridges olives from all those years ago (refer to my column, linked above the recipe).

Measure the coarse sea salt into a bowl and pour over the boiled water. Stir until the salt is dissolved. Leave to cool.

Add the red wine vinegar. Put the olives into sterilised jars and add sliced lemon, rosemary, garlic cloves and a whole chilli.

Pour the salt-water solution over and fill till near the top, leaving a 1 cm gap at the top of the jar into which you pour olive oil to the brim. Close the lid tightly and store in a dark cupboard for three to four weeks. DM/TGIFood

To enquire about Tony Jackman’s book, foodSTUFF (Human & Rousseau) please email him at [email protected] 

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