If you are looking to produce Table Olives you may want to practice the art of Slitting, Scratching or Cracking Olives!

Under natural fermentation, olives are subjected to brine solution. ?Some varieties of olives can take longer to endure the process of de-bittering and can be well in excess of 12 months. ?Talk about a labour of love!

The idea behind Slitting, Scratching and Cracking is to essentially allow easier entry for the brine solution to penetrate the olive, thus speeding up the time to cure your olives.

What is the difference between Olive Slitting, Scratching and Cracking?

Olive Slitting and Scratching means the same whereby with the machine or manual intervention an incision is made to the fruit either as a single cut or multiple incisions to the fruit. ?The Olives are usually placed into brine for partial or complete natural fermentation. ?Other additives like lemon, herbs, spices, vinegar or oil are added to extend the aroma and taste as these flavours also penetrate the flesh.

Olive Cracking:? Olives undergo a process where the olive is hit with enough force that the olive cracks without the pit ejecting from the fruit (keeping the pit intact). ?Traditionally a beer bottle is used to crack/bruise olives.

Slitting / scratching machines come in many forms... here is an outline of the technology: ?See link

https://youtu.be/GOCjA0bqBGo

See more about machines for Table Olive Processing

See more about machine for Slitting/Scratching olives