Welcome to Table Olives - Processing and curing your own olives

Welcome to Table Olives

Here you will find invaluable information on how to select and grow your own olive tree with tips on how to care for it. You'll find all the best methods for curing and preserving your olives after harvest. You find out that it is easy to do your own olives.

We've done the research and found which olive types are best suited for use as Table Olives.
Learn the difference between green olives and black olives, as well as table olives vs olives best used for olive oil production.

Autumn is usually the time when olives start to become available at local markets, and they can be purchased cheaply by the box. If you're not close to a market, or would like to grow your own, then we have some great advise on olive varieties and growing tips. They are essentially easy to grow, easy to pick and easy to pickle or preserve.

In our Recipe section, we gathered the easiest and most effective methods for curing your olives, and recipes for olive marinade and tapenade. There are many foods that go very well with olives. Pasta, salads, pizza and herb breads to name a few.

Olives cannot be eaten raw from the tree. Olive preparation includes processes to remove the extreme bitterness of the fruit. The riper the fruit, the shorter the processing time is likely to be.

Finally, there are some tips and a few common mistakes to avoid in our FAQ section.

Olive Health Benefits

Olives and olive oil have some significant health benefits. Olives are rich in monounsaturates which are very beneficial for lowering cholesterol levels in the blood stream, preventing cholesterol from sticking to artery walls. It also helps control blood sugar. Olive oil, is an excellent source of antioxidants and polyphenols, thought to act as an anti-inflammatory and help prevent some cancers.

As a rough guide 3 medium, green olives in brine contain 25 calories, and 3 medium black olives in brine contain 40 calories. They can, depending on how they are processed, be high in sodium (salt). This can be reduced if olives are taken from their brine solution and soaked in water for one or two hours.