The olives have been curring for six weeks, now since we harvested them. We tested the ones being cured in water and the result was "bitter and watery." The salt cured olives were just "bitter". We dumped the water cured olives since I figure adding more water to something that is watery was a loss cause. I put the salt cured back into cure for another week and we'll try them again.
I still am not sure what type of olives these are. They were completely black on the tree and have now turned a more pinkish purple after curing. And, both the water and salt cured looked identical, so I don't think it was the method that affected the color. I'm thinking it's either Mission, Lucaca or Santa Caterina. It's now safe to say, since I've typed that, it will end up being none of them. Onward!
I love how you're so not bothered. One can really tell how much you love olives :P
ReplyDeleteKyna, at least I was up front about it. I think we may try our hand at olive oil next year, depending on how hard (and expensive) it is.
ReplyDeleteI have some friends that made their own olive oil this year. I'm not a big fan of eating olives, but I go through oodles of olive oil here. Perhaps a more useful product if you're not a huge olive fan. They do look pretty though.
ReplyDeleteOlives are olives; they're all the same under the skin!
ReplyDeleteTurling, we also had our first (i.e., "virgin") olive curing adventure from our very first harvest last year, and I'm giving it a 50-50 chance of turning out edible. We also water-cured ours, but for about 25 days, and they are now sitting in a brine solution in mason jars for another 30 days. Feel free to check out the progress at my food blog www.thegrubfiles.blogspot.com.
ReplyDeleteYou also asked me about gopher cages, and here's my reply, which I had posted in response to your comments. We've never used gopher guards before, but the instructions that came with our bare root fruit trees strongly recommended using them if you have a gopher problem (which we definitely do). I think it's worth it to dig up your orange tree, since it's still little, and installing the gopher cage. We've tried sonic repellents, poison pellets, and even explosive devices - all to no avail. Trapping is always an option, but for the new trees this method seems pretty promising. The cages come in different sizes depending on the type of plant you're installing. Just make sure to leave about a couple inches above ground so any gopher wandering the surface won't just hop over.