Olive Pickle

Olive pickle is prepared by different methods in which the olives may be salt-cured, preserved in vinegar, brined or even stored in oil to make pickles.

History

Olives were grown plentifully in the Mediterranean region where they were an integral part of the diet. Olive oil and olive based dishes were very popular. Due to the large harvests, a method to preserve the fruit became very essential. It could have been that a few of the berries dropped into a salt pool during high tide. The next day, an observant peasant would have picked out the berries and noted that the berries had become edible, soft and quite tasty. As a result, olives were preserved in brine or salted water, or cured with solid salt, with lye solutions and even with vinegar and oil to from different regional variations of olive pickles.

Olive Pickle: Ingredients Used and Preparation Overview

Olive pickle is prepared by picking and washing the fresh olives. The exact preservation technique for the pickle will depend on the pickle recipe or the variety of olives that are used. A few of the more popular preservation techniques to produce pickled olives include the following:

• Salt curing- it is a variety of olive pickling that uses dry salt to preserve the fresh olives. Olives are layered with salt and set aside for four weeks. The salt draws out the water and a part of the bitterness of the fruit making them softer and tastier. After four weeks, the olives are washed, dried and preserved with olive oil or vinegar to make olive pickle.
• Preserving in brine- Pickled olives can also be prepared by preserving the olives in 8% salt or brine solution.
• Preserving fresh olives in lye-Pickled olives can also be produced by preserving the fresh olives in a .5 to 1.5 percent lye (sodium hydroxide) solution.
• Pickling in liquid wood ash- Olives can also be pickled in liquid wood ash.

Pickled Olive: Health and Nutrition Facts

A 2g serving of  olive pickle contains 4 calories. The sodium content is 39mg.