Have you ever finished a jar of green olives and wondered if you could drink the juice? Find out below!
You can drink green olive juice. Green olive juice is used in various recipes, including in Dirty Martinis, Bloody Marys, olive bread, olive brine pickled vegetables, and more. Olive juice is delicious and is a great addition to your diet.
Below, you will learn what green olive juice is made out of, how to drink it, and various recipes you can use it in.
In This Article
What Is Olive Juice?
Olive juice, otherwise known as olive brine, is simply a mixture of salt, vinegar, and water. After olives sit in the brine for a while, the brine develops a wonderful olive flavor that can be used for various recipes. Therefore, olive juice is safe and drinkable!
Sometimes people confuse olive juice with its cousin, olive oil. Olive oil is made by pressing whole olives. It is a big part of the Mediterranean diet and has a lot of health benefits.
While the health benefits of olive oil are well-researched, the benefits you receive from olive juice are still a bit shaky. While olive juice does involve olives, it isn’t made from pressed olives, so it may not have the same health benefits.
How to Drink Olive Juice
Olive juice is very versatile and can be used in a variety of ways. You can drink it plain, add it to a drink, or even add it to a recipe and eat it instead!
Below, you will learn how to make homemade green olive juice in case you want to make your own instead of using the juice from the jar. You will also learn recipes that include green olive juice as one of the ingredients.
Recipes
Olive Juice With Peppermint
This recipe by wikiHow demonstrates how to make your own green olive juice. This recipe is simple to make and delicious!
Here are the ingredients you’ll need:
- 1 cup (225 ml) cured olives
- 1 cup (250 ml) water
- 1 tablespoon (14.3 g) salt
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vinegar
- 1 twig peppermint leaves (optional)
After you get these ingredients, follow the directions below:
- Get a jar of brine-cured or lye-cured olives. Get whole or pitted olives that don’t have any fillings. Don’t use water-cured olives since they don’t last as long and tend to have a bitter flavor. Dried olives should also be avoided because they don’t have enough juice.
- Wash off the olives to remove the brine. Since you are making your own brine, we don’t want any remnants of the brine that the olives came in!
- Pierce each olive with a toothpick. If you don’t have a toothpick, you can also use a needle. Make sure to prick each olive at least 2-3 times so that the olive juices will be able to integrate with the liquid you’ll eventually put them in.
- Put the olives in a glass jar.
- Mix the water, salt, and vinegar in a separate bowl. The liquid should look murky. If it doesn’t, you should add 1 teaspoon (4.8 grams) of salt.
- Pour the liquid mixture into the glass jar. Leave above 4 inches (10 cm) of space between the liquid and the top of the jar (in other words, don’t fill it to the top!)
- Add the twig of peppermint to the jar. Push the twig down so that it is fully immersed in the liquid. Peppermint will make your olive brine taste extremely fresh and delicious!
- Seal the jar, then shake it. After you’ve made sure your lid is on securely, shake your jar to get everything mixed.
- Place the jar in the refrigerator. Leave the jar in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, but preferably overnight.
- Take out the jar and shake it again.
- Pour the liquid into a second smaller jar. Do not add the peppermint or the olives into this jar.
- Crush the olives in the original jar. Crush the olives into a paste to release the juices. You can do this in the jar, on a glass or plastic cutting board, or in a bowl. You want to preserve as much of the juice as possible!
- Drain the olive juice from the crushed olives into the liquid. Use a strainer to strain the olive juice from the crushed olives into the liquid. Make sure no chunks of olives get through the filter.
- Seal and shake the jar. After you do this, you can store your olive juice in the fridge until you are ready to use it.
Dirty Martini
One of the most popular uses for green olive juice is in the Dirty Martini. The “dirty” in Dirty Martini refers to the olive juice that you put in it. You can add as much olive juice as you want, depending on your personal preferences.
According to allrecipes.com, you will need to get the following ingredients to make a Dirty Martini:
- 6 fluid ounces of vodka
- 1 dash of dry vermouth
- 1 fluid ounce of olive brine from an olive jar
- 4 stuffed green olives
Next, follow these steps to make your Dirty Martini:
- Combine the vodka, dry vermouth, brine and olives in a mixing glass.
- Stir well.
- Pour the mixture into a glass over ice. You can either drink your martini on the rocks or strain it into a chilled cocktail glass.
Bloody Mary
The Bloody Mary is a delicious brunch cocktail primarily made from tomato juice. This recipe by Allrecipes shows you how to make a True Wisconsin Bloody Mary, a bloody mary that includes olive juice!
These are the ingredients you’ll need:
- 4 ice cubes
- 1.5 fluid ounce jigger vodka
- 3 pimento-stuffed green olives
- 1 tablespoon (14.3 g) olive brine from the olive jar
- ½ teaspoon (2.96 g) celery salt
- ½ teaspoon (2.96 g) ground black pepper
- 3 dashes Worcestershire sauce
- 3 drops of hot sauce
- 1 cup (250 ml) tomato and clam juice cocktail
- 1 stalk celery, with leaves
Follow these steps to put your Wisconsin Bloody Mary together:
- Fill a large tumbler with ice cubes.
- Pour in the vodka.
- Add the olives and the olive brine.
- Season the drink with celery salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce.
- Fill up the rest of the cup with tomato juice and clam juice cocktail.
- Put in the celery stalk. Stir with it, then leave it in as garnish.
- Dust with the celery salt before serving.
Double Olive Bread
Who doesn’t love olives and bread? This recipe by Huff Post combines these two amazing foods, producing a heavenly, salty, and carb-loaded loaf of goodness.
To make this delicious bread, you’ll need to get the following ingredients:
- 3 cups (710 ml) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon (2.83 g) instant yeast
- 1 teaspoon (5.9 g) salt
- 1/2 cup (118 ml) chopped olives
- 1/4 cup (59 ml) olive brine from a jar of olives
- 1 1/4 cups (296 ml) warm water
After you get these ingredients, follow the instructions listed below.
- Stir flour, yeast, salt, and chopped olives in a large bowl.
- Mix the olive juice with warm water and then combine the mixture with the dry ingredients. Stir the olive juice and water mixture into the dry ingredients until a dough has formed. If the dough is very dry, add a little bit of water, one tablespoon at a time. You want your dough to be barely wet throughout.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in a warm place. Let the dough rise for at least 12 hours. If you can, let it rise for 18 hours.
- Put a large piece of parchment paper on the counter. Put a good amount of flour on the parchment paper, then add the dough. Use a spatula to fold the dough in the flour. The dough will be loose and sticky.
- Flour your hands and fold the dough to create a round shape. To do this, gently lift the edges of the dough in toward the center. This will create a rounded shape. Next, cover the dough with a kitchen towel again. Let it rise for another 1½ to 2 hours on the parchment paper.
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Place a large Dutch oven pot into the oven to get it hot while the oven preheats. The preheating should take about 30 minutes.
- Remove the hot pan from the oven. Get the parchment paper and dough and put them into the hot pot. Cover the pot with a lid and put it back into the oven. Bake for about 30 minutes.
- Uncover the pan and bake for another 15 minutes. You want to make sure the outside is golden and crispy!
- Let the bread cool to room temperature before serving.
Olive Brine Pickled Vegetables
Chef MJ from MJ’s kitchen explains how to make delicious and crisp olive brined pickled vegetables.
For starters, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- 2 cups (473 ml) olive brine
Then, cut small pieces of at least three of the following:
- Cucumber
- Zucchini
- Yellow summer squash
- Carrot
- Onion
- 2 Hot chile peppers, sliced
- Broccoli stems
- Cauliflower
- Radish (Daikon is our favorite)
- Garlic
- Fennel
- Sweet peppers (bell pepper)
Follow these instructions for some crisp pickled veggies in no time!
- Cut the vegetables into tiny, bite-size pieces. For 2 cups (473 ml) of brine, you should have 2-3 cups of cut veggies.
- Transfer the vegetables into a clean jar. Make sure the jar has a non-metal lid.
- Pour the olive brine over the vegetables. Tap the bottom of the jar to remove any air bubbles. Add enough brine to cover all of the vegetables.
- Close the lid then put the jar in the refrigerator. Let the vegetables sit for at least 2 days before eating them!
Conclusion
Green olive juice is delicious and can be added to a variety of recipes. While it may not have the same health benefits as it’s cousin olive oil, it is still considered healthy in moderation and is definitely drinkable!
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