Buzz
Say goodbye to stubborn pits in both soft and firm olives
Every olive enthusiast encounters the inevitable task of pitting olives, whether it's for a recipe necessitating pitless olives or due to an inadvertent purchase of unpitted ones from the market. Fortunately, there are simple methods to pit black and green olives, such as crushing them with a chef’s knife or slicing them open with a paring knife. Join us as we illustrate how to remove olive pits using basic kitchen implements and specialized gadgets!
Essential Information
- To pit green and black olives, press the flat side of a chef’s knife onto the olive, then extract the pit from the split olive using your fingers.
- For soft, black olives, remove the pit by squeezing them between your thumb and index finger.
- To pit firm, green olives, either cut away the flesh from the seed with a paring knife or slice the olive in half vertically and extract the pit.
Procedures
Pitting Green & Black Olives with a Chef’s Knife
Preparing the Olives Position your olives on a sanitized cutting board, ensuring they remain stable throughout the pitting process. This prevents them from rolling away and maintains cleanliness on your workspace, avoiding any mess caused by olive juice.
- This technique is suitable if you plan to chop your olives or don’t mind them being slightly crushed for use in beverages, salads, or appetizers.
Using a Chef’s Knife Apply firm pressure with the flat side of a chef’s knife against the olive. Align the knife over a single olive, angling the blade away from you. Then, exert pressure by pressing down with your palm or using a fist-like motion to crush the olive, similar to peeling garlic cloves.
- Crushing the olive helps to split it open, facilitating the removal of the pit. Adjust the pressure based on your desired olive appearance.
- Black olives are typically softer and easier to crush compared to firmer green olives, which may require more force.
- Certain olives, such as green Castelvetrano olives, are too firm for crushing and should be sliced with a paring knife, as explained below.
- Important: Exercise gentle yet firm pressure to avoid shattering the pit, which could result in hard fragments within the flesh.
Rolling Motion Maintain pressure on the olive with the chef’s knife while gently pulling it towards you to rotate the olive. This action aids in further loosening the pit from the olive’s flesh.
- In some instances, this rolling action may cause the pit to dislodge from the olive naturally!
Pit Removal If the pit does not dislodge from the olive, extract it manually using your fingers. Split the olive open and retrieve the pit, repeating the crushing process for the remaining olives.
- Ensure you wash your hands before handling the olives and removing the pits.
Pitting Green & Black Olives with a Meat Tenderizer
Position your olives on a cutting board and use a meat tenderizer to crush them. Place the olives on a flat surface, such as a cutting board or countertop. Then, take your meat tenderizer and apply firm pressure to crush or pound it onto a single olive, splitting it open and revealing the pit.
- To crush multiple olives simultaneously, place them in a plastic bag and use the meat tenderizer to pound them.
- Utilize any flat object for crushing olives, such as a frying pan, saucepan, pestle, or the base of a jar.
- This method results in crushed olives. If you prefer them to remain intact, consider slicing them open with a knife or using an olive pitter, as detailed below.
- Note: Exercise caution to avoid exerting excessive force when crushing olives, as it may cause the pit to break open, leaving hard fragments within the flesh.
Extract the pit using your fingers. Grasp the olive at the split and pull back the flesh to expose the pit. Then, retrieve the pit and remove it from the olive. Repeat these steps for the remaining olives.
Manual Pitting of Black Olives
Squeeze the olive between your thumb and index finger. Black olives, particularly those preserved in oil, are often soft enough to be pitted manually! Simply pinch the olive between your thumb and index finger, applying pressure until it splits open.
- Ensure the elongated side of the olive is positioned between your fingers to exert pressure along its entire length.
- Green olives tend to be too firm for manual pitting.
- This approach is ideal if you intend to chop the olives or don’t mind their slightly flattened appearance.
Extract the pit using your fingers. Split the olive where it divides in half to expose the pit. Then, manually remove the pit from the olive using your fingers.
Pitting Rigid, Green Olives with a Paring Knife
Utilize a paring knife to separate the olive flesh from the pit. Certain green olives possess tough flesh firmly attached to the pit, necessitating the use of a sharp paring knife to detach the pit. Simply trim away the four sides of the olive to uncover the pit, removing as much flesh as possible.
- This method sacrifices the integrity of the entire olive but yields uncrushed olive fragments ideal for enhancing salads and beverages.
Alternatively, halve the olive using the paring knife. Another technique for handling firm green olives involves vertically slicing the olive in half with a sharp paring knife, akin to cutting an avocado. Then, separate the olive halves and extract the pit manually.
- Employ this method when requiring larger, intact olive pieces for your culinary creations.
Utilizing an Olive Pitter for Black and Green Olives
Position the olive's indentation against the pitter and apply pressure. If manually pitting olives proves challenging or time-consuming, consider utilizing olive pitters. Align the indentation of the olive with the top of the pitter and press down on the handle to pierce the olive and extract the pit.
- Place a small bowl atop the pitter to catch the pits if your device lacks a built-in compartment.
- Olive pitters are commonly marketed as cherry and olive pitters.
- Firm, green olives may require additional force due to the flesh adhering to the pit, contrasting with black olives.
- Employing an olive pitter preserves the integrity of the olives, making them ideal for serving as hors d'oeuvres at social gatherings.
Opt for an olive-pitting machine for rapid pitting of numerous olives. Olive-pitting machines are stationary devices equipped with various needle sizes to effortlessly pit diverse olive varieties. Like handheld pitters, insert the olive into the machine with the indentation facing upward, then press the lever to eject the pit.
- These machines are typically bulky and costly, primarily used by restaurants and food suppliers.
- Industrial olive harvesters utilize large, mechanized versions of these machines, capable of pitting over 2,000 olives per minute!
Helpful Tips
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Both pitted and unpitted olives offer distinct flavors! Pitted olives tend to be softer and saltier as the brine permeates the flesh, whereas unpitted olives maintain firmness and a milder saltiness due to the protective skin.
Important Warnings
- Ensure the sharp edge of the chef's knife faces away from you while pitting an olive.
- Avoid exerting excessive pressure on an olive when smashing it. Over-pressing can result in pit breakage, leaving undesirable, hard remnants inside the fruit.
