ODED's KITCHEN

The ancient art of curing olives

Lately the olive is having a comeback and olive oil is a must in every modern kitchen. The Galilean hills are being covered again with the new, dwarfed stock olive groves. Yet amongst them, on the inhospitable, barn hills one can still see the remnants of old olives that once dominated the landscape; merging with the stony terrain those magnificent old gentlemen, with their tortured trunks and spread branches stand, in mute splendour, bearing witness to the unfolding of human history. Although the olive (Olea europaea), is native of Asia Minor where it was cultivated since Neolithic times, it quickly spread all over the Middle East & the Mediterranean region and together with the vine, shaped much of the culture, commerce and cuisine of those regions.

There are many mentions of olive tree and olive oil in the Bible; the tree and its leaves – the symbol of peace are imbedded in the Biblical poetic language (Psalms 128, 3) and were venerated (Judges 9, 8-16). King Solomon paid with olive oil for the cedar wood used for the building of the temple (kings1, 5, 25). Yet, there is no reference to eating olives. We can assume from observing the food of other regional cultures that the olives together with bread, dry cheese and vinegar were the mainstay diet of the poor shepherds and field hands. In the list of ingredients that have been used at the court of King Solomon (Kings 1, 5, 2-3) olives were not mentioned.

For the poor peasant, cured and sun-dried olives were a gift from heaven. They are nutritious, relatively high in fat and rich in minerals. As well as that – their sharp salty flavour helps to enjoy an otherwise bland monotonous diet of bread and grains. The Talmud indicates that olives were served with radishes to help to counteract the sharp taste of the radish (Babylonian Talmud Brachot, Folio 41a).

The situation changed after the return from the Babylonian Diaspora. With the advance of the Mishna and Talmudic period the reference to olive eating increased. Curiously, the Mishna tells us that ripe, fresh olives were eaten dipped in salt (Mea’srot 4: 3). The olives were bruised by hand – between the thumb and forefinger or with a stone and dipped in salt to lessen the bitterness of the olive. This way of eating fresh olive was quite common – bruising for immediate consumption is not considered as work and is permitted on the Sabbath (Shabbat 50a). To our palate it seems strange, but some of the ancient olives (including the Palestinian balady) produce fruit which although bitter, leaves a pleasant, sweet after taste; dipped in salt it is delicious.

Although the Talmud list olives amongst the ten things that are bad for memorising study (among the others are: drinking water previously touched by cat or dog, eating animal hearts, placing one foot over the other when washing it and passing between two woman) references to olives and olive eating are numerous.

It is interesting to note that at that period, food and eating habit changed drastically. The Jewish aristocracy, being exposed to foreign cultures adopted also their food and table manners. The attitude of the Greeks and later the Romans to eating olives was curious. Olives were not considered food but OPSA – flavour giver. Although the peasantry consumed olives as an important staple the aristocracy treated them as luxury – something to nibble with the wine, before and after the meal – wine was never drunk during the meal. In a curious discussion about which food is blessed over the other the Talmudic scholars also mention a class of food which they called ‘salted food’ – maliach, which is eaten to enhance the sweetness of fruit (Brachot 6: 7). The ‘salted food’ is not specified. According to the Scholars, maliach, which in Modern Hebrew refers to salted fish, can be also salted cheese, olives or any other salty (pickled) dish that adds flavour to the otherwise bland bread.

The second century historian Ateanaus lists 56 ways of preparing olives and in Apicius Roman cookery - a curious collection of ancient Roman and Greek recipes, probably first published in 9^th century, gives a recipe of how to ‘preserving green olives so as to make oil at any time you wish’. The book also mentions olives cooked with leeks’ used for stuffing birds and served together with pounded Jericho dates, rue, cumin, pepper, thyme and asafoetida as a sauce for boiled chicken.

Olive eating was also a part of the bathhouse culture; together with hard-boiled eggs they were sold at the Hamam to promote drinking. Drinking large quantity of water was a part of the cleansing process. The Talmud mention two kinds of olives served at the bath gluskaoth hmegulgalin, probably olives softened in vinegar and zetay shluchin – olives softened in wine (Avoda Zarah 2:7). The olive connection with the Bath House is not only culinary – olive oil was used as a softening and cleaning agent.

Curiously the Talmud does not mention at what stage of maturity olives for eating were picked but the assumption is that olives were eaten when they are ripen and turned black. The best quality olives were salted – probably in baskets and spread over the roof to dry in the sun (Taharot chapter 9: 6). It is difficult to decipher the exact way olives were finished after being salted and dried. As mentioned above olives were preserved in wine or vinegar – Zatai Kevesh (Trumot 2) that was considered inferior; salted, dried olives were also preserved in olive oil. As well as dry salting olives were also preserved in brine in this case olive leaves and pegam (rue) were added to flavour the olives (Babylonian Tractate Sanhedrin Folio 106a) In-did olive preserving become such a speciality that Pliny, in his book Natural History relates that special olives from Trans Jordan and Bait Shan were imported to the Roman markets.

Inferior soft and misshapen olives were turned into olive cake. The olives were salted and buried in the ground until they turned into a mushy pulp. The stones were then removed and the pulp was pressed into round cakes and dried in the sun. To be eaten those cakes were soften in vinegar (Babylonian Abodah Zarah 40b)

Many of these recipes still hold today. Curing olives is basic, simple and easy and the possibilities of finishing the olives are numerous. Olive harvest is just around the corner get some and recreate what is probably one of the oldest recipes in the world.

I am an olive edict, I eat them for breakfast, piped and spread over curd cheese; I use them in stuffing, in bread, added to stews, pureed for crusting fish or pounded with anchovies and capers to make Tapenad – on of the genius creations of the Mediterranean kitchen. But my most favorite way is nibbling them with drinks.

Curing olives is easy and fun, but if you do not want to bother, get one of the excellent quality cured, semi dried olives which are sold in many specialty stores and ethnic markets, and finish them yourself at home.

Before finishing the olives must be soaked, to get rid of excess salt and to replace some of the lost moisture. I rinse the olives in warm water to which I add a small amount of mild detergent, to get rid of the film of oil that covers them. The olives are then rinsed in a few changes of cold water. I then cover them with boiling water and leave them to soak for about 12 hours. If they are still too salty drain, cover with fresh water and allow to soak further. I taste the olives every now ant then to see if they are salty to my liking. The olives are then drained and ready for finishing.

There are many ways to finish olives. I do them with lemon juice, thinly sliced lemons, crushed, roasted coriander seeds, garlic and olive oil. I steep them in lemon juice, harissa and garlic or with roasted fennel seeds, sliced oranges, garlic and fresh thyme or simply covered with olive oil, chopped fresh herbs lemon juice and chilli. The possibilities are endless. One thing to remember although the olives last well, the added fresh ingredients don’t, they need to be refrigerated. To prevent molding stored olives should be covered with a film of olive oil. They will keep, refrigerated for up to a month. The olives are ready for immediate consumption but improve with a day or so of marinating.

One last word about the flavor of olives – olives are an acquired taste and one of a rare example where a pleasant bitterness can be added to food – the other examples are chocolate, bitter salads and bitters such as Angastura. Bitterness is a difficult flavor to understand, inherently we reject it – many of poisonous materials have bitter flavor. Overcoming those primeval barriers, pleasant bitterness presents a flavor that enhances appetite, clears the palate and adds contrast and interest. For generations cooks tried to get rid of the inherent bitterness of olives and used strange and sometimes dangerous substances to achieve it. Olives were steeped in lime solution, ash and various acids. Sadly those techniques are still widely used today to produce the tasteless, insipid olives that are so prevalent on supermarket shelves.

To cure BLACK OLIVES.
1 kg fresh black olives washed
1 kg preserving or kosher salt
To finish 1 heaped Tbsp coarse salt
3 tbsp olive oil

Lay the washed olives in a non-corrosive dish. Straw about 200g of coarse salt over them and mix well. Next day drain away all the accumulated liquid; add anther 200g of salt and leave to marinate. Repeat this procedure for 5 days. On the sixth day rinse the olives well in few changes of water. Put them into a clean pickling jar. Add 1 Tbsp salt and the oil, shake well and seal. The olives are ready after 1 week.

Or, after the 5^th day, spread the olives on trays and dry in the sun until the olives are wrinkled. The outside should by dry but the flesh should be soft enough to dent when pressed.