Baked Olives

Decorative plate filled with olives and herbs

Taste the Magic of Warmed Olives with Fresh Seasoning

Table olives — black, brown and green; large or small — are a delectable way to lend color and taste to a vast array of appetizers. If you’re an olive lover, you already know how naturally delicious these wholesome goodies are. Without any embellishment, straight from the olive bar, cured olives are an effortless way to enhance many plates and recipes.

However, just as warming up or toasting your bread makes a remarkable difference in an antipasto course, you and your guests are sure to appreciate your taking that extra time to warm your olives before serving. The soothing warmth doesn’t just enhance the flavors and seasoning of olives. It also provides a delightful contrast to your cold cuts and cheeses; adds a special touch to your next get-together — or lends a lively spark to your cocktail hour.

Baking olives is an old Italian tradition, which probably originated in the south of Italy. It’s a very common practice in the Basilicata region, and in particular, around the town of Matera. However, similar methods have long been used in Sicily and Calabria, as well. As olive harvesting must be done swiftly, many ripe black olives remain on the branches afterward. These are the ones traditionally used for baking.

The cultivar doesn’t matter much, but large, fruity olives are best. Traditionally, first the olives would have been cured in the sun and then placed in the front of the communal wood-burning ovens used for baking bread. They would then be seasoned with olive oil, garlic, hot peppers, wild fennel, orange zest and sometimes wild herbs — and then, finally bottled.

Our recipes below adapt many of the same ingredients and ideas for baking olives that have been practiced for centuries. Olive infornate (baked olives) or olive calde (warm olives) are an ideal accompaniment for cheeses like buffalo-milk mozzarella, caciocavallo and Pecorino. They’re also delicious with such salumi (air-cured meats) as cappicola and soppressata. Italian farmers still love to eat baked olives simply, with good homemade bread.

Try these warm, seasoned olive recipes:

Tips for baking already-cured olives

You can enjoy delicious baked olives by using already-cured ones. Bake your olives in a 120-degree oven for two hours on a baking sheet just as they are (or, unseasoned). Then, season them as described in the baking instructions below.
Take two pounds of your favorite, already-cured olives and spread them with a bit of oil on a large baking sheet. Then, follow the baking instructions below.

Bake olives for about one hour in a 365-degree oven.
In a bowl, combine three tablespoons of olive oil with some chopped rosemary, fennel seeds, a couple of chopped cloves of garlic, some fresh hot pepper, lemon juice and chopped orange zest. Mix well to make a dressing.
Coat the baked olives with the dressing and mix them.
Let your olives rest for a few hours. Mix them once in a while before serving them with your favorite antipasti, or simply with Pecorino or goat cheese.