Olive Overload

This year we have been inundated by a rain of olives.  Although we are not in a region with the right climate for olives, the hot spring, wet summer and long mild autumn seems to have done the trick.  I'm still gathering and will have twice the amount in the picture from our very large, high tree.

How to prepare olives
Anyone who has ever tentatively tasted an olive fresh from the tree will know that something has to be done about the thousand raw rough bittnernesses which overwhelm the tongue; 

• Wash olives thoroughly
• Place in glass jars and fill with water
• Change the water and thoroughly wash olives once a day for two weeks to remove bitterness.  Daily change of water prevents bacteria building up as well as removing 'bitter' water so it doesn't get re-absorbed.
• Quality control;  empty olives out, wash and place in a large jar, fill up with water.  Remove the olives that rapidly rise to the surface and float, and compost (these are the damaged rotten ones with fermentation air causing them to float,) and pick out any that don't look good.  It doesn't matter that the olives have lost some of their colour or look mottled, ours go pink, but return to black when served in oil.
• Fill jar 1 tenth full of salt, add a few herbs and seasonings (in my case, rosemary and bayleaf from our garden one or two peppercorns, pinch mustard seeds) and fill up with water, shake thoroughly and leave for at least 3 days to let the salt absorb.    The 10 percent saline solution will kills any germs and preserve the the olives, I've had jars which lasted a year, until the next crop.
• Remove from jar when ready to serve, rince if you like to remove excess salt, serve in a covering of olive oil, which plumps them up, makes them gleam and improves the texture and taste.  The leftover oil can be used in cooking or salad dressing and is also v. tasty.