Making olives - should I add salt in the middle?

Question

My daughter picked a few pounds of olives. I slit each one & then prepared them according to a recipe - with lemon and garlic and salt water. I have tasted them a few times and they're still bitter, but they are getting better; they don't taste salty enough. Should I add salt now - about 3 weeks into the process - or just leave it alone?

I know there is a process with lye - these are Syrian olives and I have made them before without lye... They stay a bit bitter, but here in the Middle-East, we eat them that way ;-)

Answer 1

leave them. They will absorb more salt

Answer 2

When making olives you have to leech them with lye first(meaning you have to soak them in a mix of lye and water continually changing the water until the olives are no longer bitter.) it is a time consuming project. my dad does it every year. he soaks them in lye
(Red Devil)yes the kind you use to unclog your sink.. Don't try it if you don't know what you are doing and by all means don't eat the ones you are making now! they will always be bitter. and eating unprocessed olives is poisonous! Try looking for "home cured olives " on the net. they are really good if you do it rite.
One hint when you mix the LYE mix with a bag of ice that way it doesn't get too hot when you add it to the olives, and stay on top of it otherwise you'll have a big vat of slop because the lye will dissolve the olives.
If you like I can get the recipie from him and e-mail or fax it to you.let me know see my 360 page hope this helps.