Finally, the olives are done!

Finally, after over three months the olives are finished.  (Click here to see original post) I was getting a little discouraged because the brining process was taking way longer then some of my original sources suggested, months longer in-fact.  Originally, I read on a few websites that brining would only take one month or so.  Well apparently that is very wrong, it takes much closer to three months for the salt method I described on the original post.  I did however find an excellent paphlet produced by the University of California.

The pamphlet can be found here: Olives: safe methods for home pickling

This free pamphlet has all the detailed information you would need for a variety of different types of olive processing.  If you choose to process olives be sure to follow their directions closely and carefully.

As for my finished product I would have to say it is pretty good and the experiment a success.  I do think the olives are a little mushy and have a little bit of a washed out flavor though.  Both of these are likely a result of brining for a few weeks too long.  Next time I will be sure to stick close to the University of California methods now that I am familiar with them.
 

Here are my fresh olives soaking in a ~10% sea salt solution on the first day of the experiment.

Here are the finished olives three months later soaking in a ~5% salt, 25% vinegar solution with the juice of two lemons, garlic and chili peppers added for flavor.

Some of the finished olives.

So after draining the olives from the brining solution I put them in a 5% sea salt, 25% white vinegar solution with the juice of two lemons, two cloves of sliced garlic and dried chili peppers mixed in for flavoring.