I was making Moroccan Chicken in my new cast iron dutch oven tonight when I was faced with removing the pits from about 30 green olives.
I had meant to buy pitted ones but I was in a hurry at the store and just grabbed the whole non-pitted ones without thinking.
So I did a little research and found this neat trick for pitting olives. It does make a bit of a mess of the olive, but when you’re just adding them to a stew, who cares?
[Note: Apparently olives with pits are moister than their pitted relatives and impart much better flavor to your food.]
Take an olive and place it on your cutting board. Take a large knife, and with the side of the blade press down on the olive until you feel it “give.” Lift up your knife to reveal a flattened olive that’s been burst open on one end. Pick it up and pull the pit out with your fingers.
[Another Note: Look for the little stem that sometimes is still sticking to the end of the olive, and remove it. In my 1-1/2 cups of olives I found three with the stems, so just keep an eye out.]