CALIFORNIA OLIVE CULTURE PICKLING, ETC. t i 



freshened to taste, using cold water for the purpose. Perfectly 

 ripe olives prepared in the same way are far more delicious, but 

 must be picked and handled with extreme care so that none 

 shall be bruised; they will not keep so long as those pickled 

 before having reached such maturity. During the process of 

 pickling, the olives must not be exposed to light or air. It is 

 important that only one size of olives should be processed at 

 the same time, else the smaller ones will be spoiled before the 

 larger ones are "done," and it is absolutely essential that 

 everything used in processing olives should be perfectly u sweet,'' 

 as any offensive odor will be absorbed and the fruit rendered 

 worthless. 



By A. D. Thacker, of Pomona. On receiving the fruit from 

 the orchard, I sort it into three sizes by means of a grader 

 made especially for olives; then each size is separated by hand 

 according to color. This is essential, in order that the work of 

 neutralizing the bitter principle may be uniform in all respects, 

 for too much care cannot be given to the removing of the lye 

 as soon as it has reached the pit of the fruit, and in extracting 

 the lye from the fruit, for if left in the lye solution or water too 

 long, a soft or mushy olive will surely be the result. When so 

 graded and separated the olives are placed in cement vats, and 

 covered with concentrated lye made to the consistency of one 

 can to five gallons of water, a cover being put over them to keep 

 them under the lye. I lift the cover and carefully stir them as 

 often as once in six hours, and continue to do so until all the 

 bitter principle is neutralized. The lye is then drawn off and 

 water turned in; in fact, the water is turned in as soon as the 

 lye begins to flow out, in order to continually keep the olives 

 under cover, thereby not exposing them to the air. As soon as 

 the lye is all out I wash the smut* from the fruit (which now 

 readily leaves the olive), keeping the outlet in the vat open so 

 that all smut or dirt may readily pass out. When the olives 

 are clean and bright I then close the outlet, letting the olives 

 remain under cover away from air and light. I change the 

 water every six hours until all the lye is extracted from the 

 fruit, using pure artesian water. The length of time required 

 to neutralize the bitter principle in the fruit depends largely 

 upon the variety of olives and the condition of the weather just 



*Refers to black smut which exists in the bay and coast counties or 

 wherever the black scale abounds. 



