The Princess of Oil Fruit

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It had to be said at least once: Olives are wonderful.

Looking back on this year, we had an amazing harvest from our little balcony. Lots of herbs, some salads and even an assortment of berries (strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries). The balcony garden – I will tell you how I did it next spring – was a complete success. Never before have I had so many beautiful and practically ‘guest-free’ herbs in such a small space.

Especially the fresh herbs are indispensable for everything we cook, bake or mix. But none of this would have led to delicious cooking results without a precious fruit that, for us, comes from Southern Europe. Although it is grown and harvested on almost every continent in the world. In fact, the olive that got me hooked came from a very old tree in the California desert.

And without these oil fruits, I could not clean my hands after gardening, or the sink, or wash some of our more delicate clothes. Needless to say, not only do I use the liquid olives in cooking, baking, etc., but we also love to eat them whole in salads, mixed dishes, or just with some bread.

These little, oval and multicolored guys roll it all.

So this is the day I want to thank all the people around the world who grow olives, take care of these magnificent trees, clean and preserve olives for food or send them to places in jars and bottles. Great job, thank you very much! Without you, the world would be a very boring and tasteless place!

Since I use herbs and ginger in olive oil very often in my recipes, and plan to do so even more during the fall and winter season, I will give you some very brief instructions on how to do the trick.

  1. Ginger in Olive Oil:
    1. Peel the ginger and cut it into very small pieces (we are talking about cubes of 2-3 millimeters). You can also run the peeled ginger through a grating board (be careful not to cut yourself).
    2. Put the ginger pieces in a jar with a lid. The jar can be filled up to a one-third full and should be easily accessible with a teaspoon (no long and tall jars).
    3. Cover the ginger pieces generously with a mild olive oil. You will need a layer of oil about half the height of the pieces. Stir well so that the pieces are evenly distributed in the oil.
    4. Place the jar in the back of the fridge – where all the cool things happen – and leave it for 2-3 days until the olive oil has turned to a paste and forms a separate yellow layer on top of the ginger bits.
    5. Take the jar out of the fridge and stir well to distribute the ginger evenly throughout the oil. Carefully check the sides of the jar for signs of mold (they will appear, not all of the ginger was covered by oil), then push any ginger sticking to the sides back into the oil.
    6. Repeat the previous step two more times until the pieces remain in the oil and do not float back to the bottom of the jar. You should now have a thick yellow paste with a slightly spicy, lemony flavor.
  2. Herbs in Olive Oil – Version A (fresh herbs):
    Basically the process is the same as with ginger, only the first steps are a little different.
    1. Cut the herbs in your garden or on your balcony – preferably in the morning when they have not been heated too much by the sun (otherwise you will lose flavor and damage the plant). Of course you can also buy fresh herbs at a farmer’s market.
    2. Put them in a large bowl of cold water for about 20 minutes, then take them out and put them in a large colander.
    3. Leave the herbs to dry for 2-3 days, separating and turning them frequently to reduce the liquid in and on the plants.
    4. Rub the leaves of the twigs and chop all the herbs into very small pieces of the same size.
    5. Add the same amount of oil as the chopped herbs, as the herbs absorb much more oil than the ginger and need to be completely covered with oil. Then stir well so that the herbs are evenly distributed throughout the oil.
    6. Continue with the fourth step of the ‘Ginger in Oil’ process (jar to the back of the fridge).
  3. Herbs in Olive Oil – Version B (dried herbs):
    The process is largely the same as above, except of course you do not have to wash the herbs. Also, this may take a little longer depending on the herbs you are using. You will still need to use leaves only, no twigs.

The ginger in olive oil will last for a few weeks in the refrigerator – make sure you keep it in the back where it’s coolest. Herbs in olive oil can last even longer. If the color or scent becomes moldy or the content of the jar smells like rotten oil, throw it away. I usually use up the ginger in oil in about three weeks and the herbs in oil in about two months.

So this is the day I want to thank all the people around the world who grow olives, take care of these magnificent trees, clean and preserve olives for food or send them to places in jars and bottles. Great job, thank you very much! Without you, the world would be a very boring and tasteless place!

Side Notes:

  • We use an extra mild virgin olive oil. It works best in cooking if you add it last, after the dish is ready and just settling in composition and flavor. So to cook the meal – if you must use oil in the preparation, use a good canola oil in small amounts (heat resistant and flavor neutral) – turn off the heat and then add the olive oil to round out the flavor and bring out some more extras (some flavors as well as nutrients are fat soluble – they need fat to actually be accessible to our bodies).
  • Certain herbs preserve better than others because they kill bacteria. For example, thyme and sage have this property, which is one of the reasons they have been used for centuries to fight colds and infections (in fact, most herbs used in traditional Mediterranean cooking work this way).
  • Olive oil has been used to make soap for thousands of years. And best of all, if you use it as soap to wash your hands, you can use the soap residue in the sink afterwards to get rid of the dirt rims. Pretty cool trick of nature.