Page:A Practical Treatise on Olive Culture, Oil Making and Olive Pickling.djvu/68

 with them to the field where they are going to spend the whole day.

The pickling of the olive is a very simple operation. This is the method recommended by Coutance:

"The celebrated olives pickled after the manner of Picholini are submerged in a strong lye rendered more alkaline by an addition of quick lime. After leaving them in it for a certain time, which depends on their size, on the strength of the lye, and which is to be limited to the moment the pulp is penetrated to the pit, they are withdrawn, washed, and kept afterwards in water, to which is added about ten per cent of its weight of salt."

This is the mode given by Du Breuil: "Among the several receipts in use to take away the bitterness of the olive, we will indicate the one which we owe to the brothers Picholini of Saint Chamas, and which is considered the best: The olives are picked from the tree when they have reached their full development, but when they are still green, which is about the middle of September. They are dipped in a strong lye of potash, where they are left until the flesh is penetrated to the kernel. The lye is then replaced by fresh water which is removed twice a day during the first five days; after this they are kept in a strong brine."

In Bernays we find also the following recipe: "The method of preparing picholines in France,