Although many of us planted Manzanillo as a multi-purpose olive (or by mistake) it is regarded as the best table olive in the world by the Spanish and is highly prized. One of the properties which Manzanillo seems to possess is the capacity to suck up water and swell up into a plump olive, while keeping its texture and shape. This is ideal for pickling.
This same property seems to apply to Sevillano, UC13A6, Kalamata, Azapa, Volos, Verdale and probably a great deal of other varieties, but we don't have enough experience to know for sure. All these varieties promise to give us big, plump, green or black olives ideal for pickling.
Who is going to pickle them?
The general feeling I get from the Co-operative is that they will not be in a position to pickle olives themselves until around 2004. All their efforts are going into olive oil production.
There are a couple of local olive picklers that might be interested, details can be found on the Hunter Olive Association website www.hunterolives.asn.au under Local Producers.
Who else then? Not me, that's for sure!
Just down the road in Sydney there is a huge number of olive lovers. Italian, Greek, Turkish, Lebanese, Spanish, Arabic and Yugoslav communities make up a significant proportion of the population of Sydney, and all come from a culture where pickling your own olives is a tradition.
Could I suggest contacting social clubs and inviting them to pick your olives and pay you for the privilege?
Any alternatives?
Home Pickling
This is not rocket science. Turning hard and inedible table olives into plump and delicious eating olives simply requires a bit of knowledge, some skills, minimal equipment and attention to detail.
The HOA runs regular olive pickling courses, usually just before the harvesting season. Information is published on their website.