Discussion
We have one of these growing in our back garden. We planted it about 7 years ago as a tiny thing and now it stands about 16ft tall. There are olives on it yearly but they're very small. Does anyone Know when/if we should prune it at all, if we could potentially use the olives if they were large enough and how we would do this?
Thanks
Thanks
You can prune an olive without any worries. Some of the ancient trees excavated out for new road schemes in the Mediterranean are put in very large containers and pollarded so they can be transported to a nursery for sale. These will be seen as a thick, gnarled trunk with virtually no foliage when they first arrive. New foliage will soon sprout from old wood and often suckers from the roots.
I would prune ideally after the worst frosts are over so that the tree has a chance to regenerate over summer and the foliage will toughen up a bit before the following winter. If you just need to shape it, you can clip it now.
It is rare for olives to ripen in the UK unless we have a very long, hot summer. They have to be picked and stored in brine for some time. They cannot be eaten straight from the tree even if fully ripe.
I would prune ideally after the worst frosts are over so that the tree has a chance to regenerate over summer and the foliage will toughen up a bit before the following winter. If you just need to shape it, you can clip it now.
It is rare for olives to ripen in the UK unless we have a very long, hot summer. They have to be picked and stored in brine for some time. They cannot be eaten straight from the tree even if fully ripe.
Edited by 58warren on Wednesday 16th June 14:42
Yes, you can happily prune your olive now. Perhaps use a nitrogenous feed scattered around the base of the tree to encourage foliar growth once pruned.
Some info below on preparing olives to eat should they ripen:
Pickling and Preparing Olives:
The following passage comes from Lynn Alley's book "Lost Arts - A Cook's Guide to Curing Olives, Crafting Fresh Goat Cheese and Simple Mustards, Baking Bread and Growing Herbs".
"The Brine Cure ... is simple and safe, and it offers the most plausible response to my question about who first discovered that the olive was, given the right circumstances, edible.
I suppose it's possible that, long ago, some olives fell into a saltwater tide pool and stayed there undisturbed for a considerable length of time. Then one day someone, perhaps a housewife or fisherman, happened by and decided to give one a try. Much to her delight, the olives had become pleasantly salty and quite edible.
No doubt, she then took some home to her humble abode and, to her even greater delight, was able to duplicate the process. People still cure olives today in some Greek islands by dipping a basket of olives daily into the sea for 10 days. When the inner flesh is dark brown, the olives are ready to eat.
To begin the brine processing, place your clean olives in cold water and change the water each day for 10 days. (I use large, plastic, covered buckets from a local restaurant supply.) Weight the olives down with a plate so they all stay submerged. No need to seal at this point.
This will start leaching the bitter glucosides out of the olives. At the end of the ten day period you can make a more permanent brine solution in which to continue the process. Add one cup of noniodized salt to each gallon of water. Use enough of this brine to cover the olives.
Change this solution weekly for four weeks, transfer the olives to a weaker brine solution until you are ready to use them. The solution should contain one half cup of noniodized salt to each gallon (4.2 litres) of water.
Just how long it will take for your olives to become edible I cannot say. Mine seem to take about two or three months to develop a rich, olivey flavour. The best piece of equipment you have for assessing when the olives are done is located between your nose and your chin. It doesn't cost much to maintain (outside of your regular dental checkups), so use it!
Store your olives in the weaker brine in a fairly cool, dark place and keep them covered. A scum may form on the top of the olives, but according to my mother's Italian neighbours, this simply adds to the flavour of the olives! (One of my Italian sources swears that this is the "culture which consumes the bitterness of the olives.") Toss out the scum and use any olives that look unspoiled. (A squishy olive is a spoiled olive.)
Editor's note: Using the pickling method outlined above, and the complete absence of salt during the initial ten day rinsing period, bacteria can form and turn the fruit soft and rotten during the following weeks. If this happens, you will lose your entire production. Experiment with it, use about 5% salt solution for one batch and no salt for another batch. To care for the environment, there are some commercial methods that do not use the daily rinse method.
Some info below on preparing olives to eat should they ripen:
Pickling and Preparing Olives:
The following passage comes from Lynn Alley's book "Lost Arts - A Cook's Guide to Curing Olives, Crafting Fresh Goat Cheese and Simple Mustards, Baking Bread and Growing Herbs".
"The Brine Cure ... is simple and safe, and it offers the most plausible response to my question about who first discovered that the olive was, given the right circumstances, edible.
I suppose it's possible that, long ago, some olives fell into a saltwater tide pool and stayed there undisturbed for a considerable length of time. Then one day someone, perhaps a housewife or fisherman, happened by and decided to give one a try. Much to her delight, the olives had become pleasantly salty and quite edible.
No doubt, she then took some home to her humble abode and, to her even greater delight, was able to duplicate the process. People still cure olives today in some Greek islands by dipping a basket of olives daily into the sea for 10 days. When the inner flesh is dark brown, the olives are ready to eat.
To begin the brine processing, place your clean olives in cold water and change the water each day for 10 days. (I use large, plastic, covered buckets from a local restaurant supply.) Weight the olives down with a plate so they all stay submerged. No need to seal at this point.
This will start leaching the bitter glucosides out of the olives. At the end of the ten day period you can make a more permanent brine solution in which to continue the process. Add one cup of noniodized salt to each gallon of water. Use enough of this brine to cover the olives.
Change this solution weekly for four weeks, transfer the olives to a weaker brine solution until you are ready to use them. The solution should contain one half cup of noniodized salt to each gallon (4.2 litres) of water.
Just how long it will take for your olives to become edible I cannot say. Mine seem to take about two or three months to develop a rich, olivey flavour. The best piece of equipment you have for assessing when the olives are done is located between your nose and your chin. It doesn't cost much to maintain (outside of your regular dental checkups), so use it!
Store your olives in the weaker brine in a fairly cool, dark place and keep them covered. A scum may form on the top of the olives, but according to my mother's Italian neighbours, this simply adds to the flavour of the olives! (One of my Italian sources swears that this is the "culture which consumes the bitterness of the olives.") Toss out the scum and use any olives that look unspoiled. (A squishy olive is a spoiled olive.)
Editor's note: Using the pickling method outlined above, and the complete absence of salt during the initial ten day rinsing period, bacteria can form and turn the fruit soft and rotten during the following weeks. If this happens, you will lose your entire production. Experiment with it, use about 5% salt solution for one batch and no salt for another batch. To care for the environment, there are some commercial methods that do not use the daily rinse method.
Edited by 58warren on Wednesday 16th June 14:53
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