Photos and text by Corey Amaro: (Olives cassees, BIO, Fait maison, F. V.. Translates: Organic, cracked olives made by Francis and Valerie.)
Valerie and Francis, friends of ours (Francis is the one who rode to Norway with French Husband and Dieter… yeah the ones who never finished their blog about it! Darn those guys. And what is worse is their stories are hilarious. Movie worthy! Really, thinking about it French Husband and Francis were friends because their sons (Sacha and Fabrice) were friends since childhood.
French Husband and I met Dieter when his wife Lieselotte read on my blog that we would be traveling on our motorcycle through their part of Europe. Blogging connected us. Though we knew zero about them, we nevertheless, went and stayed with them. Within ten seconds after meeting them we knew we would be friends for life.
Dieter speaks German and French.
French Husband speaks English and French.
Francis speaks French.
So basically on their two week trip French Husband was the go-between-translator. Which was complicated when you know those three guys….
Dieter loves to talk.
French Husband loves to listen.
and Francis loves to joke.
Their trip is a comedy act from start to finish.
And as you can see I am once again getting off the subject. This post is about olives!!)
Francis and Valerie planted an olive tree, and this year they pickled their own olives.
They picked their olives, then with a wooden hammer tapped each olive until it cracked, then they put the cracked olives in a large pot, soaking them in cold water for ten days, changing the water each day.
Next they prepared the "Saumure" that is to say they made a mixture of deliciousness for their olives to bathe in.
Saumure:
100 grams of Salt to one litre of water (Annie said that when she was a child her mother made Olives Cassees. That her mother would prepare the saumure and then add an uncooked egg in its shell to the samure. If the egg sank, then that meant the saumure needed more salt. If the egg stayed a float then that meant the saumure was ready.),
A handful of fennel (that they picked in the mountains behind their home.)
A couple of bay leaves (that they had in their garden.)
and a couple of branches of thyme also from the provencal foothills.
Once the saumure is made you bring it to a boil, and then let it cool down. Next you drain the soaked cracked olives and put them in terre cuite glazed container. Pour the saumure over the olives and let them set for ten days to two weeks.
Valerie and Francis brought a jar of their cracked olives over the other night, and throughout the evening we talked about the trip to North Cape in Norway, Dieter and Lieselotte, and our sons who are both away.
There we sat, the new empty nesters around the dining room table: loving, laughing, eating, drinking and knowing our friendship will last longer than olive trees grow.
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