"Anny Middon" > wrote in message
t...
> After a long, rough day, I like to relax with a nice martini. Garnished
> with a couple of olives.
>
> I don't have martinis all that often, though. And I rarely eat olives
> unless they are first soaked in a glass of cold gin and vermouth. So all
> too frequently the olives get moldy and have to be discarded. (Well, at
> least I assume that the white sludge in the bottom of the jar is mold.)
>
> What can I do to give olives a longer shelf life once they've been opened?
> I put some vinegar in one jar lately, but I'm not sure if that helped --
> the jar was small, and I've enjoyed more martinis lately, so maybe the jar
> never got old enough to develop mold.
>
> I had read somewhere that you can replace the brine with olive oil for
> longer sotrage, but that doesn't sound too appetizing for olives going
> into drinks.
>
> I'm thinking about citrus. If I put some lemon wedges and fresh lemon
> juice (or ditto with limes) in the brine will that give the olives a
> longer life, or will I end up with moldy citrus and olives in the same
> amount of time? I'm thinking the hint of lemon or lime juice might add a
> nice flavor note to the martini.
>
> Anny
>
>
>
>

We go through copious quantities of olives in our house, so much so that I
usually process around 10 to 20Kg each year. The process I use is set out
below, even though the inital part is irrelevant to your question the latter
part may be of some use, the method is taken from a Greek cookbook by Tess
Malos.

I cut three slits in each olive with a sharp knife (I use a scalpel but a
sharp craft knife is OK) and place in a 20L plastic drum with a tap at the
bottom and a plate on top of the olives to keep them submerged, fill the
drum with cold water and let sit for 24hrs. Drain the water and replace it
with fresh water, repeat this for 7 to 10 days. This removers the bitterness
from the olives, do not be concerned if a fermentation process begins, this
just seems to hurry the debittering along.

Pack the olives into large jars and fill with 10 to 15% cold brine solution,
I prefer the 15% it seems to keep the olives better. To make the brine
solution place 100 to 150gm of cooking salt, not table salt in a 1 litre
container and add water UP TO the 1 litre mark (do NOT add 1 litre of water
to the salt), dissolve the salt and pour over the olives. Seal the jars with
plastic lids and store in a cool dark place for at least 3 months for green
and 2 months for black olives.

For use take out the quantity of olives you require and rinse under cold
water, place in a clean jar. Fill the jar with a 10% brine and 10% vinegar
mix (in a 1 litre measuring jug add 100g cooking salt, 100ml white, white
wine or cider vinegar and water up to the 1 litre mark), leave for 24 hrs
before use. If you don't use a lot of olives then store them in the fridge.
A couple of slices or wedges of lemon can be included or for a bit of extra
zest a couple of pickled chilies, I don't see any reason why you could not
substitute 100mL of fresh lemon or lime juice in the final brine mix in
place of the vinegar if you are using them in drinks but I would still store
then in the fridge.