Serves: 5
Total Calories: 240
Yield: 2 Pounds Cured Green Olives

2 pounds fresh green, straw colored, or red olives unpitted
LYE SOLUTION #1
2 quarts cold water
2 tablespoons hosuehold lye
LYE SOLUTION #2
1 gallon cold water
2 tablespoons household lye
BRINE
3 tablespoons salt
2 quarts water

1. Wearing rubber gloves, make Lye Solution #1 by placing the cold water in a large stainless steel or ceramic container. (Do not use glass, aluminum, or plastic.) Slowly add the lye to the water, and stir with a large wooden spoon until dissolved. Remember that the lye will generate heat, and set the solution aside to cool to 65°F to 70°F.

2. With gloves on, carefully slide the olives into the solution, making sure that they are completely covered. Half fill a heavy-duty plastic kitchen trash bag with water, and secure with a twist tie. Then place the water-filled bag on top of the olives to make sure that they remain completely immersed in the lye solution. If necessary, place a plate on top of the water-filled bag to weigh it down.

3.With gloves on, stir the olives every 2 or 3 hours. For the curing to be successful, the lye solution must reach the pits. To test the amount of penetration, carefully take out one of the largest olives and cut it down to the pit. The lye solution causes the flesh of the olive to take on a yellow- green color. If the color isn’t even, the olives are not ready.

4. If the olives aren’t cured by bedtime, carefully discard the lye solution by flushing it down the toilet, and cover the olives with cold water. In the morning, prepare Lye Solution #2 as directed in Step 1. Discard the water the olives were soaking in overnight, and cover them with the lye solution, as directed in Step 2.

5. Follow Step 3, stirring every 2 or 3 hours. Test the amount of penetration by cutting open an olive, as directed earlier.

6.When it’s apparent that the lye has fully penetrated the flesh of the olive, carefully discard the lye solution. Rinse the olives twice in cold water; then cover them with fresh cold water, being careful to avoid exposing the olives to the air any longer than you must while changing the water. (Air will cause the fruit to darken.) Submerge the olives fully in the water to exclude all air, following the procedure described in Step 2.

7. To leach the lye solution out of the olives, change the water 4 times each day. This part of the curing process is complete when you can no longer detect a hint of bitterness when the olives are tasted. It may take as long as 7 or 8 days to completely remove all the lye.

8. Before discarding the last rinse water, prepare the brine by dissolving the salt in the water. Cover the olives with the solution by using the procedure described in Step 2, and let the olives rest in the brine for 2 days.

9. After their salt-soak, the olives are ready to eat. Store them in the refrigerator completely submerged in the brine, and gobble them up within 2 weeks. If you wish, you may store the olives in glass jars.

Nutritional Facts:

Serves: 5
Total Calories: 240
Calories from Fat: 0

More Recipes from the The Sophisticated...Olive Cookbook:
Working With Lye
Green Olives
Spanish-Style Green Olives
Black Olives
Dry Salt-Cured Olives
Brine-Cured Olives
When Good Olives Turn Bad
Hot and Spicy Sicilian-Style Olives