OLIVES!!!!!!

Been meaning to post this for some time, but boy..... it's been very (positively) hectic lately!  It was olive picking season here in Cyprus a couple of months ago, back in October, although we were actually a bit late with our picking.  These pictures were taken in mid-November, and we were lucky to find a tree in our friend's field that still had green olives for preparing "tsakistes" (crushed olives), the most delicious way of preparing olives!

This is my husband and me picking the olives from the tree

So, the way you prepare the olives is by first smashing open EACH one with a rock or hammer, hard enough to split the skin but not so hard that you break the pit.  This is my daughter helping me.

Next step is to fill the bucket with olives with plain water.  You need to change the water about 2-3 times a day for about 8 days.  This will get rid of the extreme bitterness that renders them inedible when not cured.

So oily!  Feels good on the skin :0)

After about 8 days you need to prepare a salt bath and let the olives soak in there for another 24 hours.  You can see that the color has changed already

Next, you pack them up into small bundles, leave a few in the refrigerator and the rest go in the freezer, to be eaten at our own (fast) pace.

Before eating you need to make one last preparation:  In a bowl put the amount of olives you want, peel a few garlic cloves and split them in half length-wise, crush some coriander seeds (as much as you like), pour some olive oil and some lemon juice!

Now you are ready to enjoy these excitingly delicious olives.  We eat them at an increadibly fast pace because they are soooooo delicious and irresistible.  They go with just about anything......  Even breakfast :0)