CALIFORNIA OLIVE CULTURE PICKLING, ETC. 71 



PICKLING, PKOCESSING, ETC. 



Olives are pickled in four stages of ripeness: (a) Green 

 before ripe; (6) Reddish cast when the olives have become a 

 dark red color, before changing to black; (c) Ripe when the 

 olives have become black; (d) Dead ripe. 



Green Olives. The fruit is picked with care, into lined 

 baskets, just as it has reached full size, and before indications 

 of ripening begin, which is shown by tints of re*d forming on 

 the fruit. 



After years of experimenting in the production of pickled 

 olives, I have obtained best results by pursuing the following 

 course: The olives are placed in shallow vats, which have previ- 

 ously been half filled with water, to prevent any fruit from being 

 damaged when being emptied into them. The vats are filled 

 with fruit to about seventy-five per cent of their capacity. A 

 lye solution is then made in another vat, either above the one 

 containing the fruit or near it. Fifteen pounds of pure potash 

 or Greenback powdered caustic soda are dissolved in a wooden 

 tub, containing from five to ten gallons of water. The potash 

 or caustic soda is first placed in the tub and the water added. 

 If the soda be used, the water must be cold; if the potash be 

 used, the water must be hot. The soda generates great heat 

 and readily dissolves in the course of a few minutes. In 

 another tub is dissolved six pounds of lime, which is allowed 

 to settle. The clear liquid is then drawn off and added to 

 the lye. Water is then added to make in all one hundred 

 gallons of solution. The plug in the vat containing the fruit 

 is then drawn out and the water in which the olives have been 

 is allowed to run out. The fruit is then covered with the lye 

 solution. The room must be darkened and no current of air 

 allowed to pass through it during the changing of the lye, for 

 exposure to light and air will change the color of the fruit from 

 green to a coffee brown. The fruit is kept in this condition until 

 the bitter principle is neutralized by the lye, which varies, accord^ 

 ing to variety, from twelve to sixty hours. The lye is then allowed 

 to run out, and immediately water is run in and the vat filled 



