Mediterranean Partida Style Olives

This is a sponsored post. Some of you may have noticed thebeautiful olives from Penna Olives on my facebook page and my previous post onPenna Olives. I was really excited when Penna Olives chose me to send a nicebox of fresh olives to. I have never cured olives before much less seen anuncured olive, so this was a real treat.
I decided to make Meiterranean Pardita Style Olives becauseI have never had water cured olives before, and you can not buy water curedolives at the fancy European market in our town. The downside to making MediterraneanPartida Style Olives is that they take about 2 weeks to make from start tofinish and they can NOT be boiling water canned or pressure canned. Theseolives must remain in your refrigerator.  The good news is that the olives can remain inyour refrigerator for up to 1 year.
The first day of curing the olives takes the longest becauseyou have to gently crack each olive in order let the bitterness leave theolives during the water curing process. It took me about 4 olives to figure outhow hard to smash the olives. I obliterated the first olive that I tried tosmash. The second olive was more bruised than smashed, so it does take sometime to figure out how to properly crack the olives. To crack my olives I turnedmy butcher knife on its side and placed the olive under the flat knife and hitmy hand on the other flat side. It took me about an hour to smash almost 5pounds of olives.
After the first day the curing process goes quickly becauseyou are just changing out the water solution. During the water curing processif an olive becomes soft and mushy, then the olive needs to be removed andthrown away. During the curing process I lost 4 olives. It is essential that hewater gets changed out daily because you do not want the water to become moldy.If an olive becomes moldy, then that olive needs to be removed from the groupas well. You can cure your olives from 1 week to 2 weeks. I water cured minefor 12 days. I originally planned to water cure my olives for 10 days like thePenna Olive’s website suggested, but I found my olives to be a bit bitter whenI tasted them after 10 days. After two more days of curing the olives tastedbetter. You will have to taste your olives to determine the level of acceptablebitterness.
Making the finishing brine and choosing flavors took about15 minutes. I placed my olives in quart size jars and poured the briningsolution over the olives. Then, I added my herbs. By storing your olives in quartsize jars you can try many different flavor combinations. Once you place theolives in the finishing brine they need to be stored in the refrigerator. Theflavors take about 4 days to mature and keep getting more intense as time goeson. After one year the olives are going to be very flavorful!
These beautiful olives have a fresh taste unlike any other olivesI have ever had before. I used two different herb combinations in my olives.For the first set I wanted something that tasted like something I could get inItaly, so I used lemon, oregano, and garlic to flavor the olives. The Italianflavored olives were delicious. They would be great on a cheese plate. I couldnot believe how fresh the olives tasted compared to the jarred olives that Iget at the store. These olives were a real treat and worth the effort.
For the second set, I went exotic and used lime basil andlemon thyme from my garden. Lime basil has a very heavy lime scent and tasteslike a fresh lime without the bitterness. Lemon thyme is has a wonderful lemon scentwith a lemon flavor with undertones of common thyme. Lemon and lime are twoflavors that you would never expect together in an olive combined with theearthy undertone of the thyme makes these olives were exciting in a differentway. These olives would go great on top of a salad or with a sandwich.  
I love working with Penna Olives! My olives came in the mailin perfect condition. The olives were huge! The olives were at least twice thesize of any other green olives that I have bought jarred at the store. All theolives arrived firm and blemish free from California. At $19.00 for 10 poundsthe fresh olives are very economical for someone looking to make a large batchfor gifts or to enjoy at home. When you order your olives you do need to beready to begin processing them as soon as they arrive to ensure the highestquality product possible. Olive sales start in early September and begin withgreen olives. As the season progresses the olives will become darker and eventuallyfully ripe black olives. To purchase fresh olives or see more olives recipesvisit Penna Olives web site. Penna Olives is a husband and wife venture byMaurice and Cindy Penna. They own 100 acres of olive trees in Sacramento Valley,CA, so all Penna Olives are grown in the US. If curing your own olives is notyour cup of tea, then I encourage you to check out the Penna Olive’s stuffed olives, olive oil, and dirty martini mix.

Ingredients (makes about 5 quarts of olives) from PennaOlives
5 lbs of fresh green olives from Penna Olives (sales beginin early September)Water1 ½ cups white wine vinegar with at least 5% acidity6.5 cups of water10 tbsp fine iodine free saltQuart jarsHerbs                 ForItalian style olives: 1/8 of a lemon, 4” sprig of oregano, 2 cloves of garlicper quart jar                Forexotic lemon lime olives: 4” sprig of lime basil, 4” sprig of lemon thyme
Directions
1.      Rinse the olives in cold water. 2.      Crack the olives with a rubber mallet or use abutcher knife turned on its side. Place the olive under the flat knife and hityour hand on the other flat side. It took me about an hour to smash almost 5pounds of olives. 3.      Submerge the olives in fresh cold water in aglass or plastic container (do not use a metal container.) The olives should becompletely coved in water. Let the olives sit at room temperature in the waterover night.4.      Change the cold water daily on the olives. 5.      After 10 days, taste the olives. If the desiredlevel of bitterness is reached then proceed to step 6. If not, then keeprepeating step 4 for another 1-4 days until the desired level of bitterness isreached.6.      Rinse the olives in fresh cold water and patdry. Place the olives in quart jars.7.      Mix the vinegar, 6.5 cups of water, and salt.Pour the brine over the olives in the quart jars. The olives should be fullysubmerged in the finishing brine.8.      Add herbs to each jar. For Italian style olives,add a slice of lemon, oregano, and garlic. For exotic lemon lime olives, addthe lime basil and lemon thyme. You can also be creative and add differentherbs to each of your jars.9.      Place an air tight lid on the quart jars. Storethe olives in the refrigerator. The olives are ready to eat after 4 days. Theolives can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 year.

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