Olives at SomerVille

Olives at SomerVille

Olive picking is set to be an annual tradition at SomerVille . There are photos from previous olive picking.

Each year around May, the olives on the thirteen olive trees at SomerVille become ripe and are ready to be harvested. Once a tree is showing over 5% black olives, the whole tree can be harvested. While olives can be pickled when they are green or black, it is the black olives that are pressed for oil.

The olives are hand picked and sorted into black and green as the processing time for pickling varies. Larger olives are also separated for the same reason. Green olives and larger olives can take longer.

The olives are rinsed with clean water and stored in plastic containers with sufficient salt water to cover them. A plate or board is used to ensure the olives are submerged. For every 10 litres of fresh water, 500 grams of salt is used. The liquid is drained and a fresh salt water solution applied every day for around ten days and then every week for eight weeks or longer.

The olives are then placed into jars with sufficient fresh salt water to cover them. The bottles are topped up with up to one centimetre of olive oil to stop air getting to the fruit and then sealed with the lids. Bottled olives can be stored for up to a year in a cool dark cupboard.

Before using the olives, the preserving solution can be replaced with clean water and left in the refrigerator for 24 hours to leach some of the salt back out of the olives. At this stage you can add whatever combination you like of grated garlic, basil, oregano, chopped onion, red capsicum, lemon juice and lemon pieces.

The jars are saved to be used the following year.

As with the wine making and sauce making, it is hoped that some shareholders will emerge and the equipment will be purchased for subsequent years. This makes the process very easy and minimises any crop wastage.

Another option we are currently investigating is the viability of pressing some of the olives into oil. Commercial pressing is available but a minimum quantity is usually specified. With thirteen trees ripening at different times, achieving the minimum quantity may not be possible.

The SomerVille Vision:
"A vibrant village where community flourishes, in which every person is supported and contributes
in balance with a sustainable ecological ethic."