Yes it's the time of year that our olive trees are ready for harvest. Our trees are part of our landscape--not to
be confused with commercially grown trees which we are not involved with.
Nonetheless the amounts of olives we get are enough to keep us happy for the whole year.
Here is a picture essay of the process.
1-How do you know the olives are ready for picking?
A-the Syrian varieties become blackish on top of the tree that means all the olives are ripe
B-other varieties you simply squeeze if it squishes its ready
C-unknown varties and a sure bet for any olive tree if on the ground there are green ripe olives that have fallen -----not
to be confused with olives that have fallen because of disease insects or any other "unnatural" reason
2-the picking process
Well anything goes
You can hand pick them one by one or lay a net under the tree and gently "spank" the olives so they fall on the
net, or you can convince your kids,neighbours,familly or friends to pick them, whatever works best.
3-The long and tedious art of preparing
First you have to make a cut in the olive
Then you have to put the olives in water
and for the next ten days change the water every day. (This will take some of the bitterness out)
Then in a disenfected jar you have to put
the olives so they are fully covered with water then pour in the salt--and I mean a lot of salt, some pepper, spice
it up with garlic cloves, and bay leaves.
some of my friends put in wine others experiment with mint leaves and tartar sauce so experiments are welcome
I wait 2-4 months before its ready and "voile"
I have a year of olives supply
Eyal
