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Home » Foraging » How to Cure Green Olives

How to Cure Green Olives

By Hank Shaw on October 11, 2009, Updated May 31, 2021 - 371 Comments

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4.91 from 11 votes
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Brining olives is the oldest way to cure olives, especially green ones. What follows are instructions and troubleshooting on how to cure olives with a brine. There are other ways I’ll get to below.

This post assumes you have access to fresh, green olives off the tree, which are pretty but inedible — they are impossibly astringent. Olive trees can be found all over California, in many parts of Arizona, as well as Australia and, obviously, the Mediterranean, where they are native.

Green olives on the tree
Photo by Hank Shaw

You can buy fresh olives online, and over the years I have provided links, but these companies seem to come and go quickly, so I don’t do that anymore. Just Google “buy fresh olives” around September here in the United States, and I think March in Australia.

The timing is important because you want fresh green olives. And yes, like peppers, all olives start green and ripen to another color, usually black in the case of olives.

Green, unripe olives are firmer and way more astringent than ripe ones. Brining olives when they are green is a great way to cure them, and green olives are the only olives suitable for what, admittedly, is my favorite cure, which a lye cured olive. That process, believe it or not, has been used for 2000 years, and is not as scary as it sounds.

You can brine ripe, black olives, too, just so you know.

My general rhythm is to cruise my local parks in late September or early October; they are full of olive trees, remnants of pre-suburbia orchards around here. On some crisp autumn Saturday, I go picking. Look for pretty olives, with few or no blemishes, and which are not wrinkled.

Tiny dots on an olive are OK, but many may be rotten with olive fly, whose larvae burrow into olives and leave a beige scar where they entered. that telltale scar means there is a visitor lurking within your olive.

An olive infected with an olive fly larva
Photo by Hank Shaw

Another hazard are the dry olives. Trees forced to live by their own wits — away from regularly watered grass — are stressed, and their olives shrivel early. Shriveled olives are usable, but they bruise rapidly and don’t make a clean green olive.

When you get home, separate your olives into small, medium and large olives — it doesn’t matter what variety they are, as I don’t know how to tell the difference. If you don’t have enough large ones to make its own batch, mix them with the mediums.

A bowl of green olives
Photo by Hank Shaw

Unless I am doing the lye cure, brining olives is my preferred method, as it is low-maintenance and results in a super-tangy, salty olive that keeps for more than a year and cries out for beer or ouzo. And I like ouzo. A lot.

Brine-curing is easy, but takes a long time. You make a brine of 1/4 cup kosher salt (I use Diamond Crystal) to 4 cups water, plus 1/2 cup of vinegar: white wine, cider or simple white vinegar. Submerge the olives in this brine and top with cheesecloth or something else to keep them underwater. Do not cut them.

Cover the top of the container loosely (I use large, 1 gallon glass jars) and put the jar in a dark, cool place. That’s it. Check it from time to time — meaning every week or so at first. The brine should darken, and you might get a scum on the top. That’s OK.

What’s going on is that your olives are fermenting; it is the fermentation that breaks down the oleuropein over time. The what? Yeah, oleuropein is the astringent substance in an unripe olive. It needs to go if you are going to eat one. Fermentation is why I never wash my olives before curing — I want those natural yeasts on the outside of the olive to do their magic.

I change my brine every month or two, when it begins to look extra nasty. I don’t re-rinse the olives, during changes, either, because I want the residue to act as a “starter” to get the next batch of brine going.

Green olives after brining olives
Photo by Holly A. Heyser

Keep in mind you will be in for the long haul: Olives picked in October are typically ready to eat in May or June. It’s a lot like making wine.

Add seasonings after the New Year, or even later, otherwise you risk too much spice and not enough olive flavor; this is especially true of chiles. If you find you’ve gone too far, change the brine and don’t add new seasonings, and let it steep for a few weeks. That should calm things down a bit.

Once the olives are finished, there is a certain show-off factor when you pull out a plate of olives you cured yourself. “These are your olives? Wow.” Plus, you can flavor them any way you like, which is a bonus.

If you’re too late for green olives, I really like salt cured black olives, which we all call oil-cured olives since that’s how they are stored. If you want to cure black olives, my method is to oil-cure olives.

cured green olives
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4.91 from 11 votes

Brine Cured Green Olives

This is a long-term, brine cure for green olives. It is very traditional and only requires time and a cool place, under 75°F. Know that olives started in fall are not normally ready until spring. Mold is normal. Skim it off.
Prep Time15 mins
Cook Time0 mins
Curing Time90 d
Total Time90 d 15 mins
Course: Appetizer, Snack
Cuisine: Italian
Diet: Gluten Free
Servings: 20 servings
Calories: 132kcal
Author: Hank Shaw

Ingredients

  • 4 pounds fresh green olives
  • 1 cup kosher salt
  • 1 gallon water
  • 1 cup distilled vinegar

Instructions

  • Assuming you've already checked your olives for worm scars (see headnotes), discard any with too many blemishes. Place the olives in a stoneware crock or large glass jar with a lid carefully. Fresh olives actually do bruise easily.
  • Mix the vinegar, salt and water together. No need to boil, as it will dissolve at room temperature. Pour this over the olives, making sure they are submerged by at least 2 inches. Add more brine in the same ratio if need be.
  • Chances are the olives will float. You need to keep them away from air, so I put a plate over them that is just about the size of the jar or crock. You can also use a plastic bag filled with water to keep the olives away from air. Once the olives are submerged, cover the jar or lid (lightly screw on the top if there is one) and place the container in a cool, dark place. A basement is ideal. You don't want them to ever get beyond 75°F if you can help it, because at higher temperatures the olives can go soft. Since this is a wintertime cure, it should not be a problem. Low temperatures are fine, just don't let them freeze. Let them sit for several months.
  • As time passes, you will see a scum of mold and weirdness form on the top. This is normal. Skim it off once a week and you'll be fine. At some point the brine itself will get pretty icky. I like to change the brine every month or so, but this is not strictly needed. The olives are done when they are no longer bitter, anywhere from 2 to 4 months.
  • Only now do you add other seasonings, like chile peppers, black peppercorns, herbs or citrus peel. Do this in a fresh brine, and let this new, flavorful brine sit 2 weeks before serving. Store the olives in this brine, in a cool place or refrigerator, for up to 2 years. I keep them in quart Mason jars.

Notes

Flavor Additions

  • dried chiles
  • bay leaves or similar aromatic leaves like citrus leaves
  • thyme, sage, oregano, rosemary 
  • allspice, black peppercorns, juniper berries
  • smashed garlic cloves

Nutrition

Calories: 132kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 1412mg | Potassium: 38mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 357IU | Calcium: 47mg | Iron: 1mg
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Filed Under: Appetizers and Snacks, Foraging, Greek, How-To (DIY stuff)

Avatar for Hank Shaw

Hank Shaw

Hey there. Welcome to Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, the internet's largest source of recipes and know-how for wild foods. I am a chef, author, and yes, hunter, angler, gardener, forager and cook. Follow me on Instagram and on Facebook.

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Comments

  1. Avatar for Casey DelliCarpiniCasey DelliCarpini says

    October 1, 2022 at 7:13 am

    I’m so excited to be trying this. They are a couple weeks in and starting to change color s little. I assume this is to be expected. Do you have any pictures to show the progression?

    Reply
  2. Avatar for JeffJeff says

    July 28, 2022 at 7:10 am

    I used this method last fall and just tested my olives, AMAZING! One thing I was wondering was all of my olives (strays green) but ended black. I assumed they oxidized, but should the final product be black? If not, what naught I have done wrong (I didn’t change brine)? If black is normal for this procedure, how do you get them to stay green? Thanks!

    Reply
  3. Avatar for MikeMike says

    July 9, 2022 at 4:18 pm

    Gidday Hank,
    I’ve been using your brine cured olives here in NZ for quite a few years now and never had a failure and everyone likes them.
    It doesn’t seem right that something so easy should turn out so good. Thank you

    Reply
  4. Avatar for Julianne CaseyJulianne Casey says

    May 11, 2022 at 3:59 am

    Hi Hank-my olives have become overripe and soft. I believe that it is difficult to brine these as they become mushy due to the cutting of the olive. May I use this technique for my overripe black olives?

    Reply
  5. Avatar for BethBeth says

    May 1, 2022 at 3:40 am

    Hi, would there be any problem with using a food grade plastic bucket?

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      May 1, 2022 at 7:47 am

      Beth: Nope. That will work.

      Reply
  6. Avatar for Steve GoldfingerSteve Goldfinger says

    April 4, 2022 at 5:39 pm

    We just moved to Sonoma California from New York City. There are several olive trees on the house we are renting. At this time of year they’re essentially ripe (black). All our mission variety.
    Are there any special things we should do to cure these ripe olives? We don’t have all that many but I really am eager to try and not wait until the fall.
    Thanks so much for the recipe. Next year will harvest the trees when they are green!

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      April 12, 2022 at 8:20 am

      Steve: Follow these instructions and you should be OK: https://honest-food.net/how-to-make-oil-cured-olives/

      Reply
  7. Avatar for HelenHelen says

    November 6, 2021 at 8:13 am

    hi, do you use the same amount of salt, when changing out the brine every month or so?

    Reply
  8. Avatar for Maggie McKaigMaggie McKaig says

    October 31, 2021 at 4:19 pm

    I was so very happy to discover your olive curing recipe the other day. My husband and I just picked enough Picual olives for 2.5 gallons, our second harvest from a tree which went from a 3 gallon container–which it had sat in for two year–into the orchard three years ago. Last year we harvest one gallon. And we sliced each and every olive. And we were not looking forward to doing that again this year!

    Can you tell me how, or where, you discovered this method? It seemed like I did a lot of research on curing olives last year, but never came across this way of doing it.

    Kind regards,
    Maggie

    Reply
    • Avatar for Maggie McKaigMaggie McKaig says

      January 31, 2022 at 12:23 pm

      Update. After just three months, our small olives from our four-year-old Arbequina tree are done! And they are delicious. The time just flew by. So fast in fact that I never got around to changing the brine. I just kept forgetting. Out of sight, etc. Thanksgiving, Christmas, my husband’s as well as our two son’s birthdays all in those months as well. This morning I finally got it together to check on the olives, terrified about what I’d find. But to my complete surprise and delight, I discovered my two gallons of olives looked beautiful! Just a very small amount of mold on the top of the water-filled ziplocks I used to weight them down under the brine. As someone who previously and very laboriously used to slice each olive before brining, this was a like miracle. Thanks, Hank!

      Reply
  9. Avatar for Bruce Joeydego SokolovicBruce Joeydego Sokolovic says

    October 22, 2021 at 5:39 pm

    Olives were VERY hard to come by in NYC this year. I bought a case but they looked a week or 2 old and started turning a greenish yellow. Nowhere near black or anything but starting to get a little soft. Still ok for curing and jarring in oil??

    Reply
  10. Avatar for ColleenColleen says

    October 11, 2021 at 9:26 am

    When you store them outside the fridge, do you can them or is the brine sufficient to store them?

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      October 13, 2021 at 9:27 am

      Colleen: In my experience, the brine is strong enough, although once temperatures get beyond about 75F, you’ll want them cooler to prevent weird molds, etc.

      Reply
  11. Avatar for DannaDanna says

    October 10, 2021 at 3:50 am

    Hi Hank thank you for this informative post. I picked some olives and read that you should soak them in plain water (no salt or vinegar), changing every 2 days, for 10-14 days before adding salt. I have just reached the 14 day mark and now saw some small white worms in the jar when I poured it out to change the water. Do I have to toss the whole batch or do you think it will be ok if I just add the salt/vinegar brine?

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      October 10, 2021 at 7:59 am

      Danna: You got raw olives with worms in them. Look at each olive. Some will have holes. Toss those.

      Reply
  12. Avatar for Jennifer DavisJennifer Davis says

    October 8, 2021 at 6:36 am

    I do a overnight lye cure, (3 T. Per gallon water) rinse for 3 days and finish in the vinegar, salt and water solution. It moves along a little faster and the flavor , color and texture is great. Thanks for posting your method!!

    Reply
  13. Avatar for TinaTina says

    October 2, 2021 at 3:42 pm

    Hi Hank,
    Can I get your instructions to brine my olives using lye please?
    Thank you

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      October 2, 2021 at 3:51 pm

      Here you go: https://honest-food.net/lye-cured-olives-recipe/

      Reply
  14. Avatar for James DJames D says

    September 30, 2021 at 6:11 pm

    Hi Hank – After reading a bit on brine recipes, some recipes recommend cutting or cracking the olives. Your recipes is not cut them. Is that because once you cut them they need to be refrigerated or they could become soft? I like your recipe, just wanted to understand the pro’s of leaving them whole in tact vs cutting them?

    Thanks,
    James

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      October 1, 2021 at 7:44 am

      James: Yes, cutting them is a shortcut, but it makes inferior olives that don’t keep as well. You’ll notice that no store-bought olives are slashed. This method takes longer, but the results are more satisfying. When you slash them, they can oxidize and turn brown easier, too.

      Reply
  15. Avatar for ShadShad says

    September 30, 2021 at 2:03 pm

    Hello dear,

    Nice writing and recipe, wanted to ask.. Some sites recommend bathing olives in hot water to kill germs and disinfect jar (seems important)

    Plus, why add dried chili when there is live peppers? (my mom does it also with dried but why!)

    Should I top the jar all the way up? Or should I leave a bit of air if it expanded

    Reply
  16. Avatar for Carly KillingbeckCarly Killingbeck says

    September 28, 2021 at 9:39 am

    Hi I have already made slits in some of the green olives, can I still go ahead and use them?
    Thanks, great posts really helpful ??

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      September 28, 2021 at 10:37 am

      Carly: Not with this method, sorry.

      Reply
  17. Avatar for JamesJames says

    September 27, 2021 at 5:57 pm

    Hi Hank..I have a few old sevillano trees in my yard. (From Corning) Going to try the brine them this year. I got 100lbs from 2 trees.

    Do you ever pit them and stuff with garlic? At what point in the brine? Do you know of an olive pitter that works on these monsters?

    I have food grade 5 gal buckets. Can I just brine them in there? Change the water out periodically. Keep a lid on them, keep them under the brine and under 75 degrees? Then put in jars later? Will that work?

    Thanks

    Reply
  18. Avatar for Patty IrishPatty Irish says

    September 25, 2021 at 1:56 pm

    HeyHank,Can I brine in 5 gallon (Food Grade) buckets??

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      September 26, 2021 at 8:00 am

      Patty: Absolutely.

      Reply
  19. Avatar for JayJay says

    May 19, 2020 at 11:26 pm

    My olives are ready to be taken out of their oil brine. Should I rinse them and store them in a jar of water?

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      May 20, 2020 at 7:16 am

      Jay: No. I would make a fresh brine with flavors you like and store it in that.

      Reply
      • Avatar for JayJay says

        May 22, 2020 at 5:45 pm

        Thank you! This was my try and they are pretty good. Looking forward to the next harvest.
        I hope everyone is well.

  20. Avatar for Linda KrugerLinda Kruger says

    May 15, 2020 at 1:59 am

    Hi Hank – this is my first attempt at curing olives (water method). I want to try different herbs and flavourings in several jars and I’m keen to try some with chilli. Can I use fresh chilli or does it need to be dried? I’m not sure that if it is fresh, it may become ‘sludgy’. Great site, by the way! Regards

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      May 15, 2020 at 7:23 am

      Linda: I always used dried chiles.

      Reply
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Hi, my name is Hank Shaw; I’m a James Beard Award-winning author and chef. I started this site back in 2007 to help you get the most out of all things wild: fish, game, edible wild plants and mushrooms. I also write cookbooks, have a website dedicated to the intersection of food and nature, and do a podcast, too. If it’s wild, you’ll find it here. Hope you enjoy the site!

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