Fresh Olives

Olives are one of the oldest foods known to man, and one of the tastiest as well. Their rich history surrounds California’s roots; internationally their legacy goes back to biblical days. These delicious fruits need to be cured or pickled prior to eating. If you have ever tasted an olive right off the tree, you know the intense bitter flavors will coat your palate for hours. Curing olives at home with the whole family is a time honored tradition for families around the globe. A multi-generational annual event in some cultures, it’s unfortunately not something that gets shared with mainstream America all that often. The demand for cured olives, however, is clearly there. All over the country the canned olive section at grocery stores is growing, and olive products are dominating gourmet food shows. Imagine if you were able to flavor your olives to your own liking!

Fresh Raw Green Olives

Our olives for home curing are Barounis, which come from our 30 year old heirloom groves. Barouni olives are ideal for the home curer. They’re large green olives that ship well and are rather forgiving during the curing process. In fact, ours were originally planted for a farmer cooperative that was shipping olives to the East Coast for ethnic home curing. Because olives only grow well in a Mediterranean climate, and most people can’t get them in their local markets, we thought it only fitting to make these available to people around the country who wish to revive, continue or even create a wonderful family tradition.

Chaffin Family Orchards raw olives are grown as olives were produced in early times. We use no chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides or fungicides. The orchards are managed naturally in harmony with nature to ensure safe, top quality fruit for your enjoyment. The irrigation water for these orchards comes from mountain rain runoff and our soils are kept mineralized and fertilized with only OMRI certified products. Our raw olives are picked and shipped in the same day to ensure freshness when they arrive at your home. Please note our shipping policy which is to ship at the beginning of the week so your fruit does not end up delayed in transit. Also, although rain does a lovely job of plumping the fruit we cannot pick and ship wet olives. Occasionally we have to delay picking and shipping until we have several days of dry weather. No equipment is used in the preparation of our raw olives, they are handpicked, hand sorted, and shipped to you with care taken in each step of the process.

RESOURCES:
WikiHow Olive Curing breaks down different curing methods in very simple easy to follow steps.
Spiced Moroccan-Style Olives by Nourished Kitchen a Weston Price blogger
Honest Food How to Cure Green Olives Author and general superstar Hank Shaw’s blog on foraging and curing green olives.