Olives are widely used in the culinary world - as an ingredient to enrich a recipe or to be consumed as part of an aperitif.
Both olives with pits and pitted olives are available on the market, but how do you get the latter at home?
In home production, it is possible to pit olives using two procedures, one involving manual work and the other involving the use of a special pitting tool. Let's see both procedures in order to have homemade pitted olives.
How to pit olives manually
Take the olive and place it on a cutting board and start crushing it by pressing down. The pit will start to come out of the olive, as you continue to apply pressure, it will come out completely.
Alternatively, you can use a small knife: place the blade flat on the olive and then in any case press down. This movement causes the pit to move and it starts to come out. Continuing to crush delicately, pull the knife towards you, being careful not to use the sharp part. At this point, the olive rolls and the pit is thrown out.
How to clean olives with a device
The olive pitter is a widely used tool in the kitchen, as it allows you to save time and perform the pitting operation in just a few seconds.
Using it, the properties of the olives are also not lost, since through its mechanism it extracts the pit, keeping the pulp intact.
The operation of the device is very simple, just place the olive in the corresponding hole and then squeeze the handles. This movement makes a hole inside the olive, which pushes and pulls the pit without damaging the rest of it.
This is undoubtedly the best way to pit olives, as the manual procedure requires time and a little technique to avoid completely crushing the olives during the process.
How to grow an olive from a pit
Do you necessarily have to throw away olive pits? Actually, no, they can be used to grow a new olive tree seedling.
The small, light brown, almost green part should be removed from the pit, a hard point that can prevent germination.
The pit should be placed in a small pot filled with universal soil. You should place it in the center about 1 centimeter deep and then water it.
The pot should be covered with a bag to create a humid habitat conducive to germination, and placed in a bright place, but not exposed to direct sunlight. The ideal temperature is 15-20°C.
Make small holes in the bag and do not water. After about 2 months, the first shoot will appear and the plant will finally be born.
The olive tree seedling must be watered and taken care of carefully to encourage its growth. At night, it should be kept indoors to protect it from the cold, and during the day it can be taken outside, but not in direct sunlight.
When the plant reaches 10 cm in height and has at least 7-8 leaves, it is time to move it into a new pot, being careful not to break the roots.
The new pot should be at least 15 cm in diameter, which will be filled with mixed soil with pH 8.
After 6-7 months, the plant will have grown and can be moved into a larger pot or planted in the garden.
Find out what the use of olive pit decoction is and find out how to preserve olives.
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