So, last fall my mom got a wild hair and decided she wanted to do
olives. We did them again this year, and I now have 2+ gallons of
olives in the fridge. She ordered fresh olives from a place in N Cal.
They all needed to be smashed with a wood mallet prior to brining. This
was achieved by having an olive smashing party, basically a pot luck
and wine! She had gotten all people interested in the process to help,
as it is time consuming. We had 7 or 8 5 gallon buckets for the smashed
olives. You are suppossed to whack them only once as to not bruise
them. Whack and put in bucket. When they are all smashed (the olives,
not the whackers), you make a brine of heavily salted water, and cover
the olives. This needs to be changed every day for 2 weeks, and then
every other day until they are done, 30-45 days. When they are to
taste, they are again covered in a weaker brine, and refridgerated
until needed. When you want to eat some, take out the desired amount,
rinse, and cover with olive oil and seasonings-garlic, oregano, crushed
red pepper, etc. Martini, anyone?