Olive season has arrived in Spain

Things have changed a lot since we moved to Spain in 2005. Some things never change though and are worth preserving. The first winter we lived in the farm one of the coolest things I got to do was make my own olives. My neighbours took me out to their olive fields so I could pick a pail full of olives, taught me how to crack them, wash them and then marinate them with their own family recipe.

Four years later, now living and working on the coast, I was able to grab some time out of my busy work and family schedule to make them again this year. I thought I would document it this time. Olive making is an annual tradition amongst Spanish famers leading up to the Christmas season. By the time the olives are ready it is very near to Christmas day.

Two weekends ago, I went to the farm and met up with our neighbour Juan. Farmers generally have hundreds of olive trees that they need to pick closer to December when the olives have turned black and are ideal for olive oil production. Olives are only picked green in early October for consumption; usually just enough for the family for an entire year. With harvesting of hundreds of trees in mind, most farmers use netted tree skirts to pick trees quicker than it would take by hand. You put the skirt around the bottom of the tree and either shake the tree (they have a machine for this actually) or in our case the trees were still quite young and short that we were able to strip three trees and use the net to pour the olives into a container in about 30 minutes.

Once the olives were picked I was able to use a little contraption that my neighbours use to crack the olives. The olives need to be cracked so that when you wash them the oil is released and they become more tender and eventually absorb the marinade. When I did it 3 years ago my neighbours did not own this handy contraption so I had to hit each olive with a little wooden mallet one by one. It took me about 3 days and about 2 months of finding delinquent olives around the house. Some times they get away from you when you go to hit them. I have twice as many olives this time around so I am quite thankful for this simple and yet effective tool. Thanks guys! (They never read this, they don’t speak English or have internet, but I thought I would say it anyway).

So after 2 hours of cracking the olives, with a nice paella lunch in the middle, I was back on the highway driving to the coast. After arriving home my next step was to begin the washing process. Olives take some time to wash. The way to do this (outside of an actual olive factory) is to fill the container with water twice the height of the olives and change it every day until the water is clear. Again, because I had twice the amount of olives, I had to split them into two containers. After 10 days of washing it is time to marinate.

Everybody has their own recipe for olives. In fact every country has their own recipe. All olives are the same until the marinade is made. If you went to Greece you would have a different recipe than you would in Italy. And going further than that, every family has their own derivation of these recipes. I love our neighbours recipe so I did it again this time around.

It’s hard to say just how much of everything you need for olive marinade. I can tell you that there are some ingredients that are mandatory. The biggest one would be salt. In my batch I put in an entire kilogram of salt. Yes, an ENTIRE kilogram of salt. Salt is integral to making olives for two reasons. Olives are very bitter to begin with. A lot of salt is needed as olives don’t absorb very well to make a noticeable difference in the final tasting. Salt is also a necessary ingredient for curing. To a certain extent you are curing these olives just like you would Jamón Serrano or even Smoked Salmon. Even if it makes your batch too salty, you can always add more water to your olives before eating them. So don’t skimp on the salt. Too salty is not a concern. Not salty enough is.

For this recipe I also like to add:

Garlic – 4 heads all pealed and lightly crushed in a pestle and mortar.
Pimentón – also known as Paprika; 2 regular spice jars bought at a grocery store.
Oregano – 2 regular spice jars bought at a grocery store.
Thyme – 2 regular spice jars bought at a grocery store.
Black Pepper – ¾ of a regular spice jar bought at a grocery store.
Bay leaves – whole and about 20 of them.
Red Peppers – 3 medium ones diced.

These all need to be mixed in with about 24 litres of water (for about 20 litres of olives). Make sure everything is stirred in and be sure to stir the olives at least once a day to ensure that all olives get marinated well. Olives take at least 6 weeks to marinate. The longer you leave them the less bitter they will be and the more flavourable. It’s always best to keep a cover on them as to keep out bacteria and other things like dirt.

Y ya esta! In 6 weeks time leading right up to Christmas season you will have your own home made olives ready to serve to guests. You can always make different recipes. Put the olives in several smaller containers and put what you like in. It’s always fun to experiment. Just don’t forget the salt.