*tumbleweeds*
Ahem. Anyway did I mention that the climate up here is hot enough to make our olive trees fruit? I grabbed a handful last year and brined them to see how much work was involved and how they ended up.
It actually was not as involved as it seems on first read as the process is spaced over weeks. And the olives were good, although a little salty (I've since learned to put them in plain water 24 hours before use to leach out the extra salt if needed so I will do that this year). They are on the small side but the flavour is still great. Not sure what variety we have.
So here is the first lot. Heaps still on the tree and they will be ready in the next few days.
And this is the method I used. I chose this primarily because it is local so I knew it would have ingredients and measurements I use and likely use the same or similar variety of olives. There are many other brining methods on the internet though.
I have put mine in an ice cream container and used a ziplock bag full of water as the weight.
So many places use olive trees for decorative planting in Auckland and it's often hot enough for them to fruit. So if yours does you could give this a try.
