Sicilian Olives: Trapani’s Salt-Cured Delicacy

𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲! Today, we’re exploring the timeless tradition of Sicilian olive curing, specifically focusing on the salt-cured olives from Trapani.

Olives, a staple in Mediterranean cuisine, have a rich history dating back millennia. In Sicily, olive trees often live for centuries, producing fruits that have been cultivated and enjoyed for generations.

Inspired by our travels through Sicily, we decided to try olive curing. We started by selecting ripe olives from our local trees and adding coarse salt to preserve them.

Our journey then took us to Trapani, a city famous for its salt flats. We learned about the traditional salt-mining process and purchased different types of salt to enhance our olive-curing experiment.

Over a week, we stirred our batch of olives daily to ensure even curing. The salt draws out liquid from the olives, resulting in a tender interior and wrinkled skin. The process, surprisingly simple, involves salt, curing, rinsing, drying, and storing. It’s a straightforward method that anyone can try.

Our small batch of cured olives, made with locally sourced ingredients, provided us with a delicious and sustainable treat that lasted for several months. The olives were incredibly soft, sweet, and flavorful, a testament to the simplicity and effectiveness of the curing process.

▶️Video Chapters:
00:00 Sicilian Olives: Trapani’s Salt-Cured Delicacy
00:14 Olive Harvest Process
00:25 Traditional Olive Grinding
00:34 Our Olive Adventure
00:44 Our First Olive Harvest
00:51 Curing Olives with Salt
00:59 Exploring Trapani’s Salt Flats
01:17 Curing Process Explained
01:27 Simple Olive Curing Steps
01:37 The Olive Curing Process
01:44 Olive Oil Comparison
02:08 Final Thoughts on Our Olive Batch

Sicilian Olives: Trapani’s Salt-Cured Delicacy

Some olive trees live upwards of 2,000 years.
Olives and its byproducts are enjoyed all over the world.

Olive growing is an important agriculture activity in Italy, and harvest is generally in the month of October.

Olive Harvest Process

Workers lay fine nets under the olive trees, and use rakes to shake olives to the ground.

Machines make separating leaves and twigs fairly easy.

Traditional Olive Grinding

There are still some places that use the old style grinding stone to turn the olives into a pulp.

Our Olive Adventure

Where we live, we saw these beautiful olives growing in the spring. And decided to try picking our own and curing them when they were ready. We were looking forward to this new experience.

Our First Olive Harvest

Croce simply used a stepstool to reach as far as he could to pick enough to make our first batch of Sicilian olives.

Curing Olives with Salt

Croce added two handfuls of coarse salt to unwashed olives to start the curing process.

That’s it.

Exploring Trapani’s Salt Flats

The city of Trapani is about an hour west of here, and we had a great time as we toured the salt flats and learned about the process of salt mining.

We bought a few different types of salt in Trapani.

Curing Process Explained

Some people brine their olives in saltwater and some choose to cut their own lives to aid in the brining.

There are so many variations.

Simple Olive Curing Steps

The salt extracts liquid from the olives. The inside becomes tender, and the skin gets wrinkled.

We stirred our batch of olives every day for over a week.

You can separate the green olives from the darker ones and cure them longer if you want.

The Olive Curing Process

It’s a simple process. It’s basically salt and cure, rinse and dry, and oil and store.

Olive Oil Comparison

As an aside, a popular American brand of olive oil costs $18.73 for 2 litres of extra virgin olive oil.

Our local Sicilian extra virgin olive oil is 75 percent cheaper. We pay €30 for 5 litres, and it’s a zero-kilometer food meaning grown, harvested, and sold locally.

Final Thoughts on Our Olive Batch

It was a small batch that will last us a few months, but we sure enjoyed it.

Our olives turned out great, so delicious, soft, and sweet as candy.

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