Friday 10 October 2008

Olive harvest / la recolte d'olives

The olives are ripening so we picked them today.  We're going away for a few days next week and didn't want to leave them until we return.  There were more than we thought - 80 olives altogether.  Some have been damaged by the hail storm we had in September, but most are beautiful, smooth, dark and shining.

ripe olives_1_1_1

Les olives mûrissent, donc nous les avons ramassés aujourd'hui.  Nous partirons pour quelques jours la semaine prochaine et nous ne voulons pas les laisser jusqu'à notre retour.  Il y en avait plus que nous avions pensé - 80 olives toutes comprises.  Quelques-unes ont des taches à cause de la grêle en septembre, mais la plupart sont belles, lisses, sombres et brillantes.

olives harvested_1_1

I've put them to soak in spring water for four days to draw out the bitterness.  On Tuesday I'll put them in brine to begin the process of pickling them.

Je les fais tremper à l'eau de source pour quatre jours pour les faire moins amères.  Mardi je les mettrai dans la saumure pour commencer de les conserver.

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was looking at my olives today (tiny and green). I'm continuing the charade that they will grow bigger and ripen just like yours. I think I might be due for a wake up call soon :-)

chaiselongue said...

easygardener: I think you're doing well to have olives at all without a Mediterranean climate! I had a tree in Wales, but it never had fruit on it.

Anonymous said...

so nice!
I wanted to pick my olives green (I prefere them green) these days, but I can't go to plot this moment, I must wait until the first days of November to go there

Jan said...

In our village, in the Terra Alta region, the olives aren't picked until the November with the Festival d'Oli being in December. I think it's because we are so high up that we're a bit behind!

We have about 8 olive trees and I might have a go at pickling them to see if it works.

chaiselongue said...

Hi Jan and steve: the olives have ripened earlier than usual here this year. Last year it was at least the end of October. You should try pickling yours - I'll be posting the method I use in a day or so if that helps.