RFCJ RECIPE ARCHIVE
Posted by : Ruth Heiges Olives, Black in White Wine - pareve
This is from Nira Rousso's "Kitchen Secrets" page in the Ha'aretz Magazine of July 31, 1998. She took this from a new book in Hebrew about olives; "Have an Olive: A guide to understanding the most broken and cracked vegetable of them all, researched and investigated, illustrated and presented by Yoram Shapira, a veteran olive eater, among other things." I kid you not. Ostensibly, it loses something in translation. Of course, olives are a fruit, but who am I to argue. Rousso presented all of this information in narrative style, but I'll try to put it in some order. Black Olives in White Wine ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2 kilos (4.4 lb) ripe black olives white wine (not dry); "muscat is just right for this purpose, providing a sweet balance to the bitterness of the olives" garlic, six cloves plus two whole bulbs olive oil 1 teaspoon red, hot, ground paprika 20 grams (2/3 ounce) oregano 3-4 basil leaves *scant* 1/4 teaspoon agar-agar (or less than 2 cm (3/4 in.) of a branch containing it) whole allspice, about 40 You'll need a glass jar which can be closed tightly and which can hold the entire quantity of olives. Take ripe black olives and crack each one slightly, by hand. Using a jar that can hold about two kilos of olives, pour the wine to about the halfway mark (the middle of the jar). Add garlic to the wine (three cloves for every kilo of olives) and leave the jar for 12 hours. Then, overturn the contents so that the upper part, which was above the wine, is now on the bottom in the wine solution. Again, let stand for 12 hours. After 24 hours, during which all the olives have managed to soak, add enough olive oil to cover all the olives. Take one cup of water and one teaspoon of red, hot, ground paprika. Mix the paprika into the water and pour the mixture into the jar. Don't use salt, but add 10 grams of oregano and three or four basil leaves. At this stage, you add a very important ingredient ... The agar-agar acts as a preservative that protects the olives and prevents them from rotting, as would vinegar, only without adding a taste that would disturb the aroma. Since the agar-agar also functions as a gelatin catalyst, be sure to use no more than a pinch, or you'll have to extricate the olives with a hammer and chisel. If you get hold of a small branch of agar-agar, use no more than two centimeters, and, if you have the powder (which is ocher white), use less than a quarter of a teaspoon for two kilos of olives. In addition to the preservative, at this stage you also add more garlic (two whole bulbs) and allow the concoction to steep for 24 more hours, in a dry, dark place. After this, add whole allspice (about 20 for each kilo of olives) and let stand for 24 hours. The last stage of the process: After 48 hours, mix the olives and the liquid and fortify with another dose of oregano (10 grams). Let stand one more week. Then, taste the olives. They should be ready to eat.
