The Olive Jar on My Worktop – Why Everyone Asks About It

The Jar on My Worktop – Why Everyone Asks About It
These marinated olives with garlic, herbs, and sun-dried tomatoes are one of the most asked-about things in my kitchen. I keep the jar on my worktop, and it often appears in my videos, so today, I am finally showing you how I make it. This is a simple, affordable method to turn cheap supermarket olives into something fragrant, beautiful, and delicious. I use a mix of black and green olives, a few sun-dried tomatoes, rosemary, bay leaves, and garlic. The key is layering them in a clean, dry jar and topping them with extra virgin olive oil, which you can later use for dressing salads, vegetables, or even fish.

I also explain how I:
– Choose the cheapest pitted olives I can find
– Filter and reuse the infused oil
– Avoid loose herbs to prevent cloudy sediment
– Keep the jar at room temperature rather than in the fridge
– Use older garlic when possible to avoid waste

It is simple, honest food, and a pleasure to look at. Let me know if you make it. Thank you for watching. Please consider subscribing to the channel if you enjoy this kind of calm, grounded Mediterranean cooking.

⚠️ Food safety note:
Garlic in oil, especially when stored at room temperature for extended periods, can carry a risk of botulism, a rare but serious foodborne illness. In this video, I use garlic for flavour and remove the old cloves before refilling the jar. If you are unsure, store your jar in the fridge and use it within a few days, or omit the garlic entirely. Always follow food safety guidelines appropriate to your location.
This is a simple and beautiful idea, but please take care with how you store it — especially if you include garlic.

Disclaimer: This video reflects how I cook at home and is for informational purposes only. Viewers should use their own judgment and consult relevant food safety authorities if in doubt.

INGREDIENTS (flexible and to taste):
– Black and green olives (pitted)
– Sun-dried tomatoes
– Garlic (fresh or slightly aged)
– Fresh rosemary sprigs
– Bay leaves
– Extra virgin olive oil (to cover)

Watch more real Italian food here:
https://www.youtube.com/@TortellinoTime

00:00 Introduction – Why this jar matters
00:32 Emptying the old jar and filtering the oil
00:59 Cleaning the jar and choosing new ingredients
01:49 Layering herbs, garlic, olives, and sun-dried tomatoes
09:03 Topping up with olive oil and storage advice
10:19 Why this works – affordable, practical, beautiful

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#olivesingarlic
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#tortellinotime
#easyitalianrecipe
#herbsinjar
#garlicolives
#homemadekitchen
#simplepreserves

Ciao and welcome. So, I have been making a few 
videos using my olives, which I keep in olive oil here in a nice-looking jar. Some of you 
have asked me how I make them and what I do, and the process. So today, I decided to 
make a video where I’m going to show you, firstly, what I do when I need to 
refill my jar and also how I make it. So, the first thing I do… I’ve actually got 
here some olives. I think I need a bigger bowl. I’ve got some olives which are still 
very, very good, and the oil is also very, very good. And the trick of this is also to, 
of course, ensure that you keep the oil. So, I’m going to show you what I do when 
I empty the jar and start again. So here are my olives, and I’m going to 
be just draining them so that I get the oil at the bottom. If you look inside 
the jar, there are some sediments. So, what I’ll do next is go and clean 
this under the tap with clean water, make it bone dry, and then I’ll refill 
it again. And I’ll show you what I do. So, this is now lovely and clean and bone dry, 
and it is ready to be refilled. In the meantime, also, if I show you down here, I’ve also gone and 
filtered the existing olive oil using a sieve so that you get all these sediments, which I do 
not want. Also, I have separated the existing sun-dried tomatoes and olives from my residues 
of rosemary, bay leaves, and old garlic, which I do no longer need. So, this will go 
in my compost bin, and I can start fresh. So, as I’ve already got some olives out, I 
will start by filling the jar with some of the existing olives, and then I will also 
be adding the existing sun-dried tomatoes there. Let’s talk about garlic. I’ve got 
here some garlic, which is aged a little, and when it becomes this dry, I tend to 
actually use it for this purpose. So, I will be putting a couple of cloves now 
and then a few more later. I’ll start now. But also, of course, you can use fresh garlic. You 
don’t have to have old garlic. And if you want, you can also leave the skin on. So, I 
will add them there, and I’ll start now adding some of the herbs. I always use a 
combination of rosemary and bay leaves, and I put all of my herbs at the beginning, 
mostly because I think I want to do the presentation of it. So, if you do it at the 
beginning, it’s going to be easier for you. So, depending on the size of the jar that you’re 
using, obviously, you might have to cut them to size, but if you look, I’m going against the 
outside so that by the time this is full of olives and olive oil, it will look really, 
really good. And of course, the quantity of rosemary you put in is entirely up to you, but 
I would recommend four sprigs is good enough. Next is bay leaves, so I’ll put one bay 
leaf now, and then I will be filling in the layers as I go along, and I think 
that is the extent of my herbs. I would recommend that you do not use loose 
herbs, like for example oregano or dry herbs, because they will create a lot of sediment 
like this. Most probably, this will last me for about four to six weeks, even a couple 
of months. If you have to put dry herbs, they will look horrible. They will taste okay, 
but they will create this very chunky part of sediment at the bottom, which I don’t think you 
want on your kitchen. So, what do we do next? I will start by showing you the olives 
I buy, and some of you have asked me, “What olives do you use?” And I will be honest 
with you, I do not discriminate at all. I buy whatever is the most affordable olives that I can 
find in the supermarket. We tend to opt for pitted olives, and the reason why that is is because 
I think they release more flavour as there is already a hole in there, and the olive 
is raw. And also, they are a lot cheaper. So, today, for example, we went to 
Lidl, and we were looking for olives, and we bought some green olives, and also 
we bought some black olives. And these were 89p, were they 89p per jar? (Yeah.) In 
terms of weight, this one is 170 grams, the drained weight, but as I said, I do 
not discriminate, and we tend to also buy our olives from Tesco. If you were to go 
to Tesco, you will find something really, really similar in size and also in flavour. These 
are called Baresa, and these are just Tesco’s own, and again, the reason why we buy these is 
because they are the cheapest we can find. Normally, we buy this big jar, and this is 
£2.90. The drained weight is 450 grams. However, we’ve noticed that lately, they are no longer 
available in our little Tesco up the road, so we’re hoping that they have not discontinued 
them, and we can find them in the big Tesco. But if you shop in the smaller Tesco, like Metro 
or whatever, you might find this size is a little bit more expensive than these in terms 
of per olive, but they’re exactly the same. So, let’s see what I do with the 
olives. These olives are in brine, so the first thing I do is to remove all 
of the brine, and I think this is one of the most important steps. But I’ll go with very 
greasy hands, so I’ll use a towel. There you go. And the reason why I say this is important is 
because you need to make sure that all of the brine is removed, and you do not really want brine 
with the olive oil. So, I use this pasta strainer, and I’ll just leave them in there for a couple of 
minutes, and all of the water will go. And today, I’m going to be doing a mixture of green and 
black, pitted olives, and… ohhhh, there you go, it’s done, and I pour them in as well. And 
judging by the size of my jar, I think I might just need a little bit more, but I’ll start 
with these and then I’ll see how it goes. So, I’ll give this a couple of 
minutes to completely drain the brine, and then I’ll start refilling my jar. 
By the way, normally I would do this in my kitchen sink, but bearing in mind 
I’m videoing, I decided to do it here. So, next thing is to just get hold of a 
handful of olives, and I’ve mixed them well, and so you get a nice combination 
of black and green. Of course, if you don’t like black olives or you don’t 
like green olives, just use one colour. Or you can also use unpitted olives; you don’t 
have to use the pitted olives like I do now. Another really clever ingredient, and this 
is, by the way, a very Sicilian thing, is to add sun-dried tomatoes. You have already 
seen that I have added some sun-dried tomatoes from what I had left before. Ironically, these 
actually come from Sicily. But having said that, you can buy these also in the UK. Often they 
sell them in… I think in Lidl, I’ve seen them. (These were actually from Lidl in 
Sicily.) These were from Lidl in Sicily, yes. And when we go back to Sicily, we tend 
to go with some spare capacity in our case so that we can bring some food, and this is 
one of the examples. But also in Sicily, I often buy these in the markets. They have big 
markets where you can buy all sorts of olives, cheese, and very often, you buy sun-dried 
tomatoes. They have big, big slabs, and they’re all sitting there in different flavours, 
and often also in garlic. They’re delicious. But obviously, we buy these like this because they 
are easier to transport and also they’re dry. So, having done that, I have got some sun-dried 
tomatoes. The next thing I’ll do is put another bay leaf in there, and I don’t need to 
worry about the rosemary. And I just carry on. And so, bay leaves, sun-dried tomatoes, and 
a few olives until I reach the top. Oops, where are you going? And then 
I’ll show you what to do next. So, I’m near the top. I did say I was 
going to put some more garlic at the top, so there we go. I have put a couple of 
cloves in there, and with the garlic, by the way, it’s entirely up to you. If you 
don’t like garlic, you don’t have to put it in, or because it will actually release quite a lot of 
flavour, especially after the first 24–48 hours. So, it’s an ingredient which is very much 
optional, and everything is optional. You don’t have to put anything; just 
olive oil will be good enough. But I’ve now reached the top, and I’ve put 
the rest of my olives. Perfect, look at these. All I’ve got left to do now is to refill my 
jar with olive oil. But as I’ve got some olive oil left from previous, I will 
top it up with this first. Then, if I need some more, I will add some 
more later. So, let’s have a look. Now, this is quite important, by the way. 
If you look, I’m actually near the top. It’s two-thirds there. So, some people have asked 
me, “Do you keep your olives in the fridge, or do you actually leave them on your worktop?” 
The answer is very simple, either. But if you put them in the fridge, the danger is that 
depending on the temperature of your fridge, the olive oil could go really hard. So, I would 
recommend that you keep them on your worktop, but do ensure that you keep them 
totally covered with olive oil. And that the olive oil I use for this 
is extra virgin olive oil. This is not expensive. It’s about £10 a bottle, so it is 
£10 for, I think, a litre. This one. But do ensure that they’re totally covered like this, 
and then the oil will act as a preservative, and they will last forever. Well, or until 
you eat them, of course, and they’re done. And the good thing about this is that you can 
actually then use the oil as you make your salad and you do anything, not necessarily for 
cooking, but if you’re dressing salad or even if you’re doing fish or whatever, I use this oil 
because it releases all of the beautiful flavour from the sun-dried tomatoes, from the garlic, the 
rosemary, the bay leaf, and of course, the olive. But it is a very distinctive and stronger flavour, 
and it’s beautiful. And I always say that if you mix ingredients together like this with care, 
you don’t need to buy expensive ingredients. You can just do it cheaply, and this will be 
absolutely beautiful. But I would recommend that before you tuck in, leave them for about 
12 to 24 hours so that you give time for the olives to release their flavour, and then 
they will be infused with everything else. Also, we have a tendency in our house, 
or someone who is behind the camera has a tendency in our house, to think 
that these are sweets, so she’ll pass by (a little snack) and she will just pick them 
up, and they’re actually really, really nice. So, just as simple as that, make them 
and let me know what you think. OK, thank you for watching, and 
enjoy, and good luck. Ciao, ciao.