consists in putting the olives into a lye made of one part of quick lime to six parts of ashes of young wood sifted. After having left them half a day in this lye, they are taken out of it and put in fresh water, where they are allowed to remain eight days, the water being carefully renewed every twenty-four hours. After this a brine is made of a sufficient quantity of marine salt dissolved in water, to which is added some aromatic plants."
Here is now a process which is mostly the repetition of those I have just given, but which contains a few additional particulars which have come under my observation while pickling olives in Europe as well as here;
In the first place, the strength of the lye in which the olives are to be submerged has to be regulated. To that end I have employed the "American Concentrated Lye," which is found here at all groceries, in a solid state, in one pound boxes. After breaking the tin envelope I dissolve this cake of concentrated lye in a wooden bucket, into which I throw one gallon of hot water. When fully melted I have a lye of 13° to 14° strength, measured by the Beaume's hydrometer, which can be had at such hardware stores as Justinian Caire, of San Francisco, who imports them from Europe. With such a degree of strength the flesh of the olives is penetrated to the kernel in about five hours, which can be easily ascertained by taking one of them every five
