Homemade Olives!

I bought myself an Olive Tree in July as a little treat. Olives have always been one of my favourite foods, so why not grow and marinate them just the way I wanted to?
Just to let you know, olive growing and marinating is not as easy as I first thought. Eating them straight from the tree = a major no no!
So earlier today I plucked the olives off of my tree in order to begin the preperation and marinating process - I am so excited to have my own olive 'brand.'
I will now follow the following processes in order to create the perfect olive:

(Just a few of my beautiful olives on the tree!)



1. Pluck from the tree and make two cuts in each olive. Place them in sterilised jars until the jars are 3/4 full. Cover the olives with water (this will eventually remove all of the horrible impurities). Fill a bag with water and place on top of the olives in order to keep them submerged.

2. Continue this for a week, changing the water ever day.
3. Then combine 1 litre of water and 70g of sea salt in a pan. Warm through for about 10 minutes. Cool. Drain your olive jars and and pour in enough of the salt-water to cover the olives. Pour on top a layer of olive oil to create a seal.
4. Leave in a cool, dark spot for around 6 weeks. They are then ready to eat (if you don't want much flavour), but if you do, be sure to marinate the olives according to your taste.
5. Check back in 7 weeks for my marinade!