How To Cure and Preserve Olives at Home: 5 Methods Explained

I have never used all of the olives from my trees to make olive oil at home. I always leave at least a few kilos for preserving so we can have a nice side dish and salad during the year.

If you’ve ever tried to eat a raw olive straight from the tree, you know it’s an incredibly bitter experience. That bitterness comes from a compound called oleuropein, which is naturally present in fresh olives. Curing olives is the process of removing or reducing that bitterness, making them delicious and safe to eat all year long.

In this post, I’ll show you five methods you can use to cure olives at home — from simple water curing to traditional Italian-style preservation — so you can enjoy homemade olives all year round.

How To Prepare Olives After Picking

Before you start curing olives using any of the methods below, you need to properly prepare them. This step is the same regardless of which curing method you choose, and skipping it can ruin your entire batch.

Choose the right olives. If you’re growing your own olive trees, the first step is knowing when your olives are ready to pick. For water, brine, and lye curing, you can use green or semi-ripe (purple) olives. For dry salt curing, you’ll want fully ripened black olives. If you’re wondering about the difference, understanding table olives vs oil olives will help you pick the right variety.

If you don’t have your own trees, you can buy fresh olives online during the fall harvest season (typically October through December). Look for varieties like Manzanilla, Sevillano, Castelvetrano, or Mission olives.

Sort and inspect. Go through all your olives and remove any that have holes (likely from the olive fly), deep bruises, or signs of rot. One bad olive can affect the taste of an entire jar.

Wash thoroughly. Rinse olives under cold running water to remove dirt, debris, and any residue from the tree. If you picked them by hand, they’ll likely have bits of leaves and twigs mixed in — remove those as well.

Break or slit the olives (optional, depending on method). For water and brine curing, breaking or slitting the olives speeds up the process significantly. You can crack them gently with a wooden hammer or make 2-3 cuts with a knife. The key is to open the flesh without crushing the pit. For lye curing, you can leave olives whole. For dry salt curing, you’ll poke holes with a knife tip instead.

Which Curing Method Should You Choose?

Before diving into each method, here’s a quick comparison to help you decide which one is right for you:

Method	Time Required	Difficulty	Best For	Shelf Life
Water Curing	3-5 weeks + brining	Easy	Mild, less salty olives	Up to 1 year (fridge)
Brine Curing	1-3 months	Easy	Salty, tangy olives	Up to 12 months (fridge)
Lye Curing	7-10 days total	Moderate (requires caution)	Buttery, mild olives (fastest method)	Up to 1 year
Dry Salt Curing	3-6 weeks	Easy	Wrinkled, concentrated flavor (snacking)	Up to 1 year (freezer)
Oil Curing	1-2 months	Easy	Rich, Mediterranean-style olives	2-3 months (fridge)

Once your olives are cured, there are so many ways to incorporate olives in your everyday diet — from salads and pasta to charcuterie boards and pizza toppings.

How To Cure Olives: 5 Step-by-Step Methods

Without further ado, let’s see all the methods you can use to cure olives and make them edible throughout the year.

1. Curing Olives in Water

One of the simplest ways to cure olives is by curing them in water solution. For this method, all you need is a large container and cold water, and of course, some ingredients are required for a brine, but I’ll discuss that later.

People mostly like to cure olives in water to reduce the bitter taste of olives, so they’re easily edible. Curing olives in water removes a percentage of oleuropein, giving the olives a milder taste. According to the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, oleuropein is the primary phenolic compound that makes raw olives extremely bitter, and water soaking gradually leaches it out of the fruit.

Ingredients needed:

• olives
• cool water
• pickling salt
• white wine vinegar
• Mediterranean-like aromas such as garlic, lemons, rosemary, etc. (optional)

Steps For Curing Olives In Water:

1. Prepare and wash fresh olives. To get the best results, you should always use the freshest olives, and that’s why I like to cure them around the time of harvesting. You can buy fresh fruits online if you don’t grow your own olive trees. Wash them thoroughly, and remove any olives that are full of holes and bruises since they could affect the taste of all other olives in the end.
2. Break the olives. After washing and inspecting olives, you should break them. I like to do it with a wooden hammer, but you can also make a few cuts with a knife. Breaking the olives is extremely important since it’ll allow water to get inside the olives and reduce the amount of oleuropein in them.
3. Put all olives in one container and fill it with water. Now, you should put all olives in one container, or if you have a lot of olives, you can use multiple containers. Containers shouldn’t be plastic, so make sure to use ceramic or glass ones. After that, fill the container with cold water. Ensure that all olives are covered and that none are sticking out.
4. Replace the water every day for 3-5 weeks. Water must be replaced every day, preventing the buildup of any bacteria or mildew. Also, don’t forget to always put cold water. After three weeks, you can try one olive, and if it’s still bitter, continue the process. If it’s okay, you can continue to the next step – putting olives in brine.
5. Prepare the brine. The brine will keep olives fresh for months, and it’s extremely important to make high-quality brine. It’s made by mixing pickling salt, cool water, and white vinegar. You can see the ratios below.
6. Take olives out of the water and put them in smaller containers or jars. Now it’s time to take all olives out of the water and put them in smaller containers. In each container, always leave one inch of space at the top (that’ll ensure you’ll have enough space to cover all the olives in a brine).
7. Pour the brine into the containers. Cover all olives so no olives come in contact with oxygen. Add some vegetables to give an additional aroma.
8. Close jars and store them in the fridge. Unopened jars can last up to one year, and once you open them, make sure to consume all the olives within three weeks of opening.

I like to use this ratio for a brine: 1 gallon (3.8l) of cool water, 1 ½ cups of pickling salt, and 2 cups of white wine vinegar. That’s enough for around 10 pounds of olives.

Even though it takes some time to make water-cured olives, they have a fantastic aroma, and it’s incredibly cheap to make them. That’s why people mostly use this method.

2. Curing Olives In a Brine (Salt Water Method)

This method uses brine from the first day and is perfect for those who like salty olives. All you need is water and pickling salt. Again, you can always add some additional aromas inside the brine. Also, you’ll need salt, vinegar, water, and olive oil, in the end to make the final brine for storing them.

If you need a full step-by-step guide on how to brine olives at home, check it here.

Brined olives you make at home are much healthier than those you buy in stores. So, trying this method is totally worth it. This method is pretty similar to the 1st one, but instead of water, you’ll use a simple brine to remove that bitter taste of olives.

Ingredients needed:

• olives
• cool water
• pickling, rock, or sea salt
• white vinegar
• Mediterranean-like aromas (optional)

Steps For Curing Olives In a Brine:

1. Wash and choose the best fresh olives. Washing olives from any dirt is extremely important, so do this thoroughly. Also, I like to choose only the best ones that don’t have any damage. If you want, you can slit olives with a knife or by using a wooden hammer. Make sure not to crush them completely. The pit should stay untouched.
2. Get a container and soak olives in the water for 2-3 days. Even though this method differs from the first one, you still need to soak olives in plain cool water for 2-3 days. Make sure to change the water daily, and make sure that olives are always fully covered in water. Again, you should use a ceramic or glass container. However, if you don’t have any other option, plastic one could be used, but it’s best to avoid it altogether.
3. Cure olives in brine. Now that the olives have been in the water for 2-3 days, you should cure them in a brine. The brine for curing olives is very simple; it’s made with salt (unprocessed rock or sea salt) and water only. The ratio of salt and water should be 1:10. Mix the brine in some container, and then put the olives into the jar, bucket, or container with a lid and fill them with brine. Make sure that all the olives are covered, put something above the olives (a plate) to keep them below the surface, and then close the lid.
4. Change olive brine every week for a month. Every seven days, you should replace the brine with a new one. That’ll remove the bitter taste quickly. However, if you see that mold is growing inside containers, you should replace the brine even sooner. After a month, try olives; if you like the taste and the bitterness level, you can store them.
5. Store olives in sterilized jars and fill them with brine. After draining the old brine that you used for curing, put olives into the glass jars or containers. Fill them with brine (check the ratios below). Make sure that all the olives are below the surface of the brine. In this stage, you can add any flavorings (garlic, lemon, etc.) you want. On the top of the brine, pour a little bit of olive oil. Olive oil will keep the oxygen separated from the brine, which is essential for long-term storage. When you fill it with everything, screw the lids on jars.
6. Store jars in a cold place or in a fridge. Jars stored in a cold and dark spot should be consumed within 6 months, and jars stored in a refrigerator can last up to 12 months. Once you open the jar, consume all the olives within 3 weeks.
7. Wait a week before trying them. You should wait at least a week before consuming olives. That way, the flavors you have put in will give olives an additional taste.

Ratios for a brine: 2:5:20 of salt, vinegar, and water. For instance, 40g salt, 100g vinegar, and 400g water is enough for about half a liter of salt brine.

3. Lye-Cured Olives

Even though lye is a poisonous substance, it has some fantastic benefits if used correctly with some foods. One of the ways people use lye is to create lye-cured olives, an excellent way of preserving olives and making them extremely delicious.

The biggest disadvantage of making lye-cured olives is that you need to be extremely careful when doing it, and using some materials, such as aluminum, is entirely forbidden.

Ingredients needed:

• olives
• lye (food-grade ideally)
• water
• pickling salt (or any other unprocessed salt)
• Mediterranean-like aromas (optional)

Steps to Make Lye-Cured Olives:

1. Prepare olives. Pick only good-looking olives, just like any other type of curing olives. Throw away those that have holes in them (probably an olive fly), and others that are rotten. I like to wash olives to get rid of any dirt and debris, and then I proceed to the next steps.
2. If you can, wear glasses. Be careful, lye is a dangerous substance if you pour it on your skin or eyes, so make sure to stay protected. Using some plastic working glasses is completely fine.
3. Pour cold water into a container. It must be cold because when mixed with lye, it’ll become warmer. Also, it’s extremely important that you only use glass, stainless steel, or a food-grade plastic container. Never use anything made from aluminum because it reacts with lye. So, pour 1 gallon of cold water inside the container.
4. Add lye into the water. For every 1 gallon of water, add 3 tablespoons of lye into the water. Also, don’t use aluminum spoons to do it. When you add the lye, stir everything by using a wooden spoon.
5. Add olives to the container. Now add olives to the container of lye and water mixture. Put something above to keep all the olives beneath the surface. Otherwise, they’ll become darker. None of the olives should be exposed to the air (oxygen). Keep them in lye for 12-16 hours.
6. Clean olives from lye. After staying in lye for 12-16 hours, you should dispose of that lye. I like to pour it into the sink. Just be careful; you don’t want to pour olives, hehe. When there’s no more lye in the container, add cold water to fill it. Change the water 2 to 4 times a day. You should repeat that for 3-6 days until the soapy taste from the olives is gone. The water will look a bit dirty until all the lye from olives is gone. When water becomes clear, even after being in a container for a few hours, olives are ready for brining.
7. Make 1st brine (Strong one). Now, you should make a bit of strong brine made from salt and water. I prefer to use pickling salt, but any rock or sea salt is fine. For every 1 gallon of water, add 2/4 or 3/4 cups of salt. When you pour the brine into the container, let the olives brine for 5-7 days. Again, keep olives submerged. After one week, olives are ready for a final brine.
8. Make final brine. Now, olives are completely cured, and you can get smaller jars, fill them with olives, and then with a new brine. This time, you should use a less salty brine. I like to use 1 cup of salt per 1 gallon of water. If you want, you can also add a little bit of vinegar to the brine. Fill all the jars with olives, brine, and some Mediterranean-like aromas (garlic, rosemary, etc.), and you can close the lids.
9. Enjoy the taste. You can eat olives straight away, but if you add some additional flavors, you can wait another 7 days for olives to soak all that Mediterranean aromas. Also, if the olives were more ripened at first, they may even become completely black (like the ones you buy in cans).

Strong brine ratio: 2/4 or 3/4 cups of salt per 1 gallon of water Final brine ratio: 1/2 cup of salt per 1 gallon of water

4. Dry Salt Cured Olives

Dry salt-cured olives are one of the easiest ways to cure olives. This type of cured olives is best for use as a snack, for salads, in pasta, or to add on top of pizzas. Furthermore, dry salt-cured olives will look shrunken in the end since all the liquids from them will completely evaporate.

Ingredients needed:

• olives
• salt (pickling or any other unprocessed salt)
• water
• olive oil (optional)

Steps For Making Dry Salt-Cured Olives:

1. Pick fully ripened olives. In all other ways I showed you above, you should pick green or a mixture of differently ripened olives. For this method, you’ll need fully ripened (black) olives.
2. Clean olives from any debris. Thoroughly wash olives and remove any stems and pieces of dirt and debris. After washing them in cold water, drain them in a colander.
3. Poke holes in every olive. This is a bit time-consuming, but make sure to poke one or two holes in every single olive. That’ll allow them to dry and cure quicker. I like to do it with the tip of the knife (just make it really sharp).
4. Prepare the container. For this type of curing olives, I like to prepare them in glass jars, but if you have plenty of olives, you can use larger containers. Only use glass, ceramic, or food-grade plastic types of containers/jars.
5. Add salt and olives in layers. Now, you should add a thick layer (½ inch or 1 cm) of salt at the bottom of the jar or container. Then, add a layer of olives (not more than 2 olives thick). Then again, add a layer of salt, and so on, until the jar or container is full. The last layer must be salt. It’s like making lasagne. Then, close the lid.
6. Let olives cure at room temperature. Now, you should let olives cure at room temperature. Once a day, you should shake or stir the container, and if needed, add an additional layer of salt to keep all the olives covered with salt. Repeat the process for about 3 weeks.
7. Replace the salt if needed. Sometimes, olives release too much liquid, converting salt into a paste. If that happens, drain the olives and fill the jar again (salt-olives-salt).
8. Rinse and taste. After 3 weeks have passed, you should rinse all the salt off and taste the olives. If they’re still bitter, you can continue to cure them the same way and taste them once a week. If they’re fine, continue to the next step.
9. Dry and rinse off the salt. Once you like the taste, you can brush off all the salt and quickly rinse the olives. After rinsing, let the olives completely dry overnight.
10. Store them in airtight containers. After drying the olives, you should store them in an airtight container. You can keep them at room temperature, in a refrigerator, or in the freezer. At room temperature, they’ll last up to one month. In a refrigerator, they’ll last up to six months; in the freezer, they’ll last up to one year.

TIP FOR SERVING: prior to serving, tossing olives with 1 tablespoon of high-quality olive oil will improve the overall taste.

5. Oil-Cured Olives

Oil curing is a traditional Mediterranean method that produces rich, deeply flavored olives with a soft, slightly wrinkled texture. This method is essentially a combination of dry salt curing followed by preservation in olive oil, and it’s especially popular in southern Italy and Greece.

Oil-cured olives have an intense, concentrated flavor that works beautifully on antipasto platters, in pasta dishes, or simply enjoyed on their own with good bread. If you need to pit them before using, it’s easiest to do so after the curing process when they’ve softened.

Ingredients needed:

• fully ripened (black) olives
• coarse sea salt or rock salt
• extra virgin olive oil
• dried herbs (rosemary, oregano, thyme — optional)
• garlic cloves (optional)
• dried chili flakes (optional)

Steps For Making Oil-Cured Olives:

1. Start with the dry salt cure. Follow the dry salt curing method above (steps 1-9) until your olives have lost their bitterness and are dried. This typically takes 3-5 weeks.
2. Brush off excess salt. Gently rinse and pat the olives dry. They should look wrinkled and feel firm but not rock-hard.
3. Toss with olive oil and seasonings. In a bowl, toss the cured olives with enough extra virgin olive oil to coat them generously. Add any herbs, garlic, or chili flakes you like.
4. Pack into jars. Place the oiled olives into clean glass jars. Pour additional olive oil over them until all olives are completely submerged. Make sure no olives are exposed to air.
5. Store in the refrigerator. Oil-cured olives should be stored in the fridge and consumed within 2-3 months. Always use a clean utensil when taking olives out, and make sure the remaining olives stay submerged in oil.

Tip: The leftover olive oil from the jar makes an incredible flavored oil for drizzling over salads, bread, or grilled vegetables.

Preserving Olives the Italian Way

The Italian tradition of preserving olives has been passed down for generations, and it varies from region to region. In Sicily, Puglia, and Calabria, each family has their own recipe — but the core principles remain the same.

The most popular Italian method is the crushed green olive technique. Green olives are cracked (not cut) with a stone or wooden mallet, then soaked in water for about two weeks with daily water changes. After the bitterness is gone, the olives are drained and dressed with extra virgin olive oil, garlic, chili pepper, and fresh herbs like oregano or wild fennel.

Another beloved Italian technique is Olive alla Lucana (olives in the Lucanian style from Basilicata), where olives are layered with coarse sea salt and thin strips of citrus rind. The salt draws out moisture and bitterness over several weeks, and the citrus rind adds a subtle aromatic note.

For Italian black olives (olive nere), the dry salt method is most traditional. Fully ripe black olives are layered with coarse salt in a wooden crate or basket (traditionally one with drainage holes) and left to cure for 4-6 weeks. The olives are turned daily to distribute the salt evenly. Once cured, they’re rinsed, dried, and stored in olive oil with herbs.

What makes the Italian approach special is the emphasis on simplicity and quality ingredients — good olives, good salt, and patience. No shortcuts, no chemicals.

How Long Does It Take To Cure Olives?

The curing time depends entirely on the method you choose, the size of the olives, and how bitter they are:

• Water curing: 3-5 weeks of daily water changes, plus brining time.
• Brine curing: 1-3 months, depending on how often you change the brine and the olive size.
• Lye curing: The fastest method — about 7-10 days total (12-16 hours in lye, 3-6 days of water rinsing, 5-7 days in brine).
• Dry salt curing: 3-6 weeks.
• Oil curing: 4-7 weeks (dry salt phase) plus storage in oil.

Smaller olives cure faster than large ones, and cracked or slit olives cure much faster than whole ones. Green olives generally take longer to debitter than fully ripe black olives.

The best way to know if olives are done is simply to taste one. If it’s still unpleasantly bitter, continue the process. If the bitterness is mild and pleasant, they’re ready for final brining and storage.

How To Store Olives After Curing

Proper storage is just as important as the curing process itself. Here’s how to keep your cured olives fresh for as long as possible:

For water-cured and brine-cured olives: Store in sterilized glass jars filled with fresh brine. Adding a thin layer of olive oil on top of the brine creates a seal that prevents oxygen from reaching the olives. Keep jars in the refrigerator for up to 12 months (unopened). Once opened, consume within 3 weeks.

For lye-cured olives: Store in a light brine (½ cup salt per gallon of water) in the refrigerator. They’ll keep for up to a year unopened.

For dry salt-cured olives: Store in airtight containers. At room temperature, they last about a month. In the refrigerator, up to 6 months. In the freezer, up to a year.

For oil-cured olives: Keep submerged in olive oil in the refrigerator. Consume within 2-3 months.

General storage tips:

• Always use glass, ceramic, or food-grade plastic containers — never metal (especially not aluminum).
• Keep olives submerged at all times. Any olive exposed to air will spoil.
• If you notice an off smell, slimy texture, or mold that you can’t simply skim off, discard the batch.
• Label your jars with the curing date so you can track freshness.

Frequently Asked Questions

Resources:

• Fairview Orchards, Give Recipe, Honest-food, The Spruce Eats