Most Spanish table olives are cured at least in part with lye, but their process is far different than that used in to make the hideous Lindsay olive.
It's to remove the bitterness that they have when they're first picked from the tree. This can be accomplished by soaking them many times in fresh water or by using a lye solution as is done here.
Combine 1 part salt to 10 parts water and pour over the olives in a bowl or pot. Weigh them down with a plate and let sit for 1 week. Drain the olives and repeat the brining process for another week.
Lye-curing: Lye-cured olives are soaked in a lye-water solution that quickly breaks down the olives' waxy outer coating and removes the bitter oleuropein. The olives are then repeatedly rinsed in cold water to remove the lye. After rinsing, the olives are usually soaked and stored in a vinegar brine, or fermented.
Green table olives are treated with lye to make them ready to eat, whereas black olives are treated by oxidation, which makes them go black. Both these processes respect the olive's nutritional properties, although these vary between green olives and black olives.
Bottom line: Raw, pure lye will burn the hell out of you, but it is not a systemic poison. That means that even if you eat an olive that still has a lot of lye in it—as I did—all you will taste is a nasty soapy flavor.
The use of lye curing is prohibited for organic olives.
Sicilian & Kalamata Olive Processes
Sicilian and Kalamata olives have similar curing methods. Sicilian olives are soaked in salt and lactic acid for one year. The same process, minus the lactic acid is used to cure Kalamata olives, as well as Amphissa, Niçoise, Picholine, Cerignola and Gaeta olives.
100% Pure Lye – also known as food-grade Sodium Hydroxide which speeds up the process of removing the bitterness from the olives, because it is incredibly alkalizing, which without it, would take weeks. Water. Salt.
Olives. "Foods rich in healthy fats like olives, nuts, and avocados are great nighttime snacks that can keep you feeling fuller longer and also help to stabilize blood sugar levels," says Dr.
Pour the salted water over the olives etc until they are well covered. Seal the container. Store in a cool place and keep the container sealed for 6-8 weeks for black olives, and 8-10 weeks for green olives. Open and taste, if the olives are still bitter, leave the to cure for another week or so and test again.
If your olives get exposed to air, they can develop a white film. It is the healthy lactobacillus probiotic bacteria from the fermentation process. It is perfectly normal and safe to eat. In fact, it helps you digest food.
Olives are inedible before they are cured. Many people don't know that olives are actually inedible when they are first picked. Raw olives straight from the tree contain oleuropein, an extremely bitter compound that makes olives completely unpalatable.
To check them, remove one and rinse it. Then cut into it, down to the pit, with a sharp knife. Olive flesh that has been penetrated by the lye solution will turn golden in color. If the lye hasn't reached the pit, continue to soak the olives in the lye solution, checking again every hour or two.
Lyes are used to cure many types of food, including the traditional Nordic lutefisk, olives (making them less bitter), canned mandarin oranges, hominy, lye rolls, century eggs, pretzels, and bagels.
Though olives are perfectly fine to consume straight from the jar, we recommend that you rinse them under cool water before serving. This removes most of the brine and sodium that coat the olive and can take away from the actual flavor. If you are watching your sodium intake rinsing is a must.
The Romans invented curing olives with lye. They obtained lye from wood ashes.
Lye water (sometimes called 'Lime Water') is a strong (caustic) liquid that is safe to use in very small amounts in cooking, but it can be dangerous if lye water is swallowed undiluted straight from the bottle. It can cause severe corrosive burns to the throat, oesophagus and stomach with permanent damage if swallowed.
Olives picked off the tree contain a very bitter compound called oleuropein. Harvested olives must be “cured” to remove the bitterness in order to make them palatable. The most common curing processes use brine, dry salt, water, or lye treatments.
If you're looking to reduce your saturated fat intake, black olives are a slightly better choice. If you're trying to boost your vitamin E intake, green olives are a healthier option than their black counterparts.
Kalamata olives are healthy when consumed in moderation, but it's important to remember that, like all olives, they're high in sodium. Having too much sodium in your diet forces your heart to work harder to do its job and can lead to conditions that include congestive heart failure and kidney disease.
Kalamata olives are rich in antioxidants, healthy fats and relatively low in carbs. Dare we say they can be considered a superfood.
Some growers use little to no pesticides; others use them to combat issues like olive flies which can destroy the fruit. If you want to make sure that only organic-approved products are used to support the growing of the olives used for your oil, it's best to stick to an organic-certified Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
These olives are cured using a closely guarded family secret. The process behind these olives took years to develop to this superior standard, as there is no salt used in any part of the curing process.