Lots and lots of olives

So I thought it would be a nice idea to make my own olives for the wedding.  It can't be that difficult and we have tons of olive trees in Phoenix.  So, a couple of weeks ago I drove around with my step ladder and 5 gallon bucket in search for the perfect olive trees.  Los Olivos park was a good start, as I had a suspicion that they had olives there.

About an hour later I walked away with my bucket almost full of juicy, ripe olives.  It turns out there are lots of ways of making olives, so figuring out which recipe was the best was difficult.  In the end, I hope these recipes worked!

Picking olives at Los Olivos Park

A whole park full of olive trees!

Separating the green from the black...cleaning and slicing each one.

The finished product...4 jars of Kalamatas and 5 jars of Mediterranean

Kalamata Olives - Brine

1 Gallon water

2 cups pickling salt

4 cups red wine vinegar

Put olives in jar, cover with brining solution.

Top with 1/4 inch of virgin olive oil.

Cover tightly and keep in cool, dark place for 3 months

Mediterranean Olives - Brine

1 Gallon water

2 cups pickling salt

2 cups white wine vinegar

Put olives in jar, cover with brining solution.

Add herbs...I added lemon, sprig of Rosemary,

basil and garlic.

Cover tightly and MUST be refrigerated.  Ready in 1 month.