I was treated to a Shabbat meal at the rabbi’s house here in Wellington a few weeks ago, this was a traditional Jewish Shabbat meal. Khayim Dovrat came with his wife Tova from Israel a few years ago for his second delegation as rabbi to the Jewish community. At the beginning of the meal there were all kinds of pickles, and breads and other starters that Tova made. She is a great cook, believe me, all the food on the table was very tasty, the kind that any restaurant would be proud of. Among other things there were olives.

I love olives and when I eat them, I eat them fast. And when I do that, my stomach hurts a lot, but when I ate Tova’s homemade pickled olives, it was fine. She was not ill and I was able to enjoy her pickled olives. I had to ask her how she makes it and she explained that the olives from the factory are mixed with some kind of acid that softens them quickly. It is not a natural pickle, that’s why I always feel it in my stomach.

Here is the whole process step by step:

1. Pick your olives from an olive grove. You can find a grove near your town and offer to pay for your harvest. The other day I was talking to the manager of an organic store here in Wellington about milk in New Zealand. It is illegal to sell raw milk in New Zealand, so if you want raw milk, you have to buy a part of a cow from a dairy farm. Lots of people are doing it so you can do the same with olives.
2. Make a groove in each olive. Wash them under running water and make a slit in the middle of each olive, just as Rabbi Khayim shows in the video. Some people prefer to pound the olives to make this process go faster, but that can break the pit, making the olives even more bitter.
3. Place the olives in cool running water. This will remove the bitterness from the olives. You should replace the water once or twice a day over the course of ten days so the olives don’t stay in the same water all that time. When you pour the water, you will notice that it has color. This is the bitterness that comes out of the olives.
4. Take a large glass jar. Sanitize the jar with boiled water. So basically you pour hot boiled water over the jar, from the inside out. Place a metal spoon inside the jar so it doesn’t break. Tova and Rabbi Khayim told me that placing metal inside the glass jar prevents the glass from breaking in hot water.
5. Layer the olives, garlic, and lemon in the jar. You are now ready to place the olives in the jar to be pickled. Layer about a two-inch layer of olives, then a layer of garlic cloves and a layer of coarsely chopped whole lemons. Then another layer of olives and continue in that order until the jar is full.
6. Prepare a solution of water and salt. In a clean container, put a cup of salt and 10 cups of water and pour it over the olives in the jar. You may have noticed that we already have 2 natural preservatives. salt and lemon. That will keep the olives edible for years.
7. For a layer of extra virgin olive oil. The oil will act as a sealer and prevent air from coming into contact with the olives, thus keeping them away from the acid. All you need is a thin layer of extra virgin olive oil. Of course, all oils will do here, but EV olive oil is the best.
8. Place in a cool, dark place for a minimum of two months. Close the jar and place it in the cupboard or in a cool, dark place for at least two months. Olives are ready to eat in two months, but the longer they are there, the better and tastier they are.

For your health, or LABREE-OOT as we say in Hebrew.