On Fri, 2 Oct 2009 15:51:37 +0100, "Ragnar" wrote:


"Stephen Wolstenholme" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 2 Oct 2009 14:49:43 +0100, K wrote:

David WE Roberts writes
snip
Doesn't that depend in part as to whether you prefer green or black
olives?

I may be wrong, but I have a memory that black olives require more
complicated processing than green.

I thought black olives were unfermented and thus the processing was
simpler.

Steve


All olives need fermenting to make them edible. They taste incredibly
bitter otherwise so I don't know why birds find them so appealing.
I've heard you can cure them by soaking them in water for up to six months
but brine is better. There are lots of recipes (traditional and commercial)
on the web if you google for them.
R.


Black olives do not need to be fermented and are often are only cured
but Green olives take both treatments to get rid of the bitter taste.
Years ago in Greece I sampled fresh olives, picked the previous day,
unfermented, uncured apart from some dry salt and they didn't taste
bitter. There are some varieties of olives that are not bitter and can
be eaten fresh off the tree.

Steve

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