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RIPE OLIVES
In the processing plant the whole green olives are pumped into tanks containing a mild caustic solution – water and lye (sodium hydroxide). Lye is a strong chemical. It will burn your skin on contact, remove paint, and eat its way through clogged drains. That’s why some people refer to the curing process as cooking.
Lye efficiently leaches out a natural chemical constituent of olives, the bitter glucoside also known as oleuropein.
The lye treatment is one of the primary reasons green and ripe taste different. For ripe olives the lye solution is alowed to penetrate all the way to the pit – causing a milder taste. During the green processing the lye solution is never allowed to penetrate all the way to the pit. Some natural bitterness is left in to give the green olives its distinctive taste.
During the lye processing the olives are aerated by use of jets of air forced into the holding tanks. The air oxidizes the olives giving them their tradition black color. The olives are then leach to a neutral PH with fresh water.
At the very end of the repeat rinsings, organic iron salt (ferrous gluconate) is added to the water in order to "fix" the black color of the olives. This trace of iron reacts with the glucoside to help maintain color intensity in the olives after they are stored.
The olives are then inspected for defects and then proceed to the canning process. During this canning process the olives are pressure cooked at a temperature of 260º F for 12-14 minutes. This is a necessity for canning black ripe olives, which are known technically as low-acid fruit. Low-acid fruit has to be meticulosly heated after canning, because the airless medium in the can is a perfect enviroment for anaerobic bacteria. If the olives are not canned correctly botulism may occur.
