Any ideas on how to ripen olives properly and fully without using salt or lye or anything else that's non primal?
At the moment I have three sets that I'm trying to ripen in various ways. One I let stand for a couple days in a closed container retaining the moisture and beginning the ripening process, but took them out because some were getting moldy, and put them in the sun to kill the mold. They turned from green to brown in one day, and then I moved them into the shade with access to plenty of air. Another batch, I put directly into the sun for one day, and then moved them into the shade. Those stayed green. A third batch I put directly in a jar with fresh whey at room temperature. I also put a handful of each of the other two batches in the whey jar at the same time. I think if I get some more, my next experiment will be leaving them in a jar with just plain water. I might also try raw apple cider vinegar, or lemon juice, or some combination of some of these (water, whey, vinegar, lemon juice)
I will report on the progress. So far, the ones that browned are edible, but still somewhat bitter. The other ones are entirely green and pretty much inedible (super bitter).