The other weekend when we were coming back from Gumbarra, I got lucky 🙂
We had driven to Cunningham’s Gap to pick Mum and two other walkers who had walked from Sylvester’s lookout to the gap along the top of the Main Range Escarpment. Mum had gone to the toilet to freshen up and on her way back had gotten talking to a Land Crusier full of Italian men who had taken a one day holiday to pick the olives for the year. Whilst talking Mum had mentioned to the blokes that her daughter would love to pick some olives and could they tell me where they picked up, the answer was a hearty no but we will give her some olives. I came down with Mum’s hat and I skipped back to the car with a hat full of olives and a smile that didn’t leave my face for a good 48hrs. I also came back with tips on how to best cure them. You need to rinse them in water for a week said one. The others said no, just straight into salt water in which an egg will float with a little bit of garlic and a chopped up lemon. They all nodded and said yes. Then another adds, you must put in a little bit of wine vinegar and change it every so often.
I know have a container in the cupboard with olives curing in and you have no how idea how big a smile that puts on my face.
Now I just have to play the waiting game.
I have been talking about making a trip out to QLD olive country since probably September last year, as we are smack bang in the season at the moment my talk ramped up a couple of weeks ago. I only wanted a small amount to play with. Mum sort of talked me out of it – You want to drive 3 plus hours to pick perhaps 2kg of olives and how much do you even like olives Helen? Next year after this batch have worked out I’ll be there. I am also very interested in having a going at pressing my own oil, I understand the science of the matter and have found a few little notes on extracting olive oil yourself which I will keep in mind next year.
Next year, there is always next year.