The most popular method of olive curing among our staff and customers has been the lye cure method. The results are fast and the flavor of the lye cured olives is generally clean and buttery.

The natural bitterness in the olives is eliminated as the lye breaks the chemical bonds between the oleuropein phenol compound and sugars in the olives. We recommend you give this fast and popular method a try with at least a portion of your olives. You will have olives to eat in as little as 10 days, well before any edible olives can be had from the alternative methods.

Preparation Time: About 10 days.

Capacity: About 20 lbs or 5 gallons of olives per batch

Olive Curing with Lye - Quick Version of the Directions

1. Understand the safety requirements and practices of handling lye in the UC Davis Publication 8267 - see page 10.
2. Sort the olives by hand, removing bruised, black or infested fruit.
3. Cover the olives with a lye solution (usually 1 tablespoon lye per quart of water) and soak for approximately 10-12 hours, stirring occasionally and avoiding air exposure.
4. Drain the lye and rinse twice. Cover with cold water and proceed by changing the rinse water every couple days for about a week.
5. Brine the olives with either a short-term or long-term storage brine. Salt usage varies from 1 to 2 oz by weight per quart of brine.
6. The brined olives are ready to eat in as little as 2 days of brining!