The mills of the Luberon are open for the locals to bring their olives from early November through the end of December. Different varieties ripen earlier than others so many locals stagger their deliveries. This year we brought 30 kilos of olives right at the beginning of the November and a few days later had 6 litres of fresh oil for our labour. The picking goes quite quickly but sorting and discarding any olives with x was tricky and took time. The bitter taste of the olive (be it green or black) makes it inedible immediately after picking . Ultimately the curing style will give the olives much of their flavour profile. You can cure an olive in two different ways and achieve very different tastes.

On the property we have Picholines, Aglandaou, and Niçoise olives.

Picholines are crisp firm olives, almond shaped with a light green colour and the flavour has a lemony finishing. The medium-sized trees are harvested for green cocktail olives from September to October. A lye cure is used and then they are fermented in brine for up to a year to produce a well-balanced table olive.

The Picholines balance of fruit and brine flavours accents seafood dishes and mild earthy ingredients like mushrooms and artichokes. For well-rounded antipasto, pair them with Brie or Provolone cheeses, prosciutto, and a crisp white wine.

The Picholines that are processed for oil are usually picked later, once they have turned black. The exact harvest date for oil depends on the desired taste—an early harvest produces fruity oil, while a later harvest yields a sweeter product. (We were a little earlier he mill owner suggested we wait until December to bring the picholines we want processed for oil) .

Widely known in the south of France, the Picholine also produces the most common variety of olive oil from Morocco.

The Niçoise olives are small in stature with a low flesh-to-pit ratio. They are left to ripen on the tree until they're a dark, purplish-brown color. A Niçoise-style natural brine curing is typical for this type of olive. During this process, the olives are cured in water and sea salt for about three months.   Once the fermentation is complete the olive has a thin, soft flesh that is both briny and pleasantly bitter in flavor. For storing Niçoise-style olives are often packed in oil with added herbs to produce a rich, tart flavor. The salty, complex flavor pairs well with aged sheep’s milk cheeses or a piquant aged blue and a bold red wine. They also complement tuna or anchovies, as in the famous Salad Niçoise. Consider serving briny Niçoise-style olives alongside fresh heirloom tomatoes in a pasta, salad, or on top of a pizza. Niçoise olives are also wonderful for making olive tapenade, a spread made of puréed olives, capers, and anchovies. 

Aglandau Olives .

L’Aglandau is the dominant variety in the Vaucluse. Also called Verdale du Vaucluse or Verdale de Carpentras, it produces a rich and aromatic oil with the earthy flavour of artichokes and almonds. The tree is resistant to cold and les touches but doesn’t like dryness which is reducing its harvest in our property. Picked when mi-mur, the oil has a fine flavour and stores well.

This year I decided to try my hand at curing some of our olives so we would have our own cocktail olives.

Of the various methods of curing ( oil-cured, water-cured, brine-cured, (salt) dry-cured, and lye-cured) the simplest for the novice is water-curing. This is the method I chose for our Nicoise olives. (The idea of a lye cure for the picholines scared me off although I love to buy picholines at the market when I find them.) For water curing you place the olives in a pan and cover with cold water; let sit for about a week, changing the water twice a day.

After about a week, the bitterness is gone, and you transfer the olives a pickling brine of one part salt and ten parts water and leave submerged for 1 week. You must then repeat the brining process three more times so they brine for about a month. The brine adds a salty flavor, the longer the olive is permitted to ferment in its own brine, the less bitter and more intricate its flavor will become.

If you would like to have pitted and/or stuffed olives, remove the pits and add the fillings at this point. Then, mix up a similar brine, adding vinegar and herbs if desired. Store the olives in the brine in a jar and refrigerate.

Our Olives were delicious but it was quite an intensive production, possibly not to be repeated although I now have the deepest respect for the artisanal olive producers in the markets! One tip when purchasing olives. Green olives (which are picked before maturity) have about 1/3 of the calories of black olives: . 118 kcal / 100 g for green olives vs 293 Kcal / 100 g for black olives.

Recipe tapenade made with green olives

200g green pitted olives

10 anchovy filets

100g capers

15cl of olive oil

black pepper

I filet de jus de citron

Crush the olives, anchovies and capers in a mortar. Add the ol slowly and continue to crush the olives until you have a fine texture. Season with pepper and lemon juice. This is better made the day before serving. you can add finely chopped fresh herbs like thyme or basil. Other optional ingredients: a teaspoon of mustard or two tablespoons of cognac in place of the lemon juice.