Gorik Calories

You can eat Gorik straight off the tree, but it is usually too bitter and astringent to enjoy. Curing it in water or brine reduces that bitterness and makes it suitable for eating as a table olive.

Gorik tastes bitter because it contains oleuropein, a naturally occurring compound in olives. Curing, including soaking in water or brine, reduces the bitterness; ripening also changes the fruit’s taste.

You can cure Gorik by cracking or slitting the olives and soaking them in water, changing the water regularly to draw out bitterness. Once the taste is milder, transfer them to clean brine and keep them covered.

Gorik is an unripe green olive, while “green olive” usually refers to an olive that has been harvested before ripening and then cured for eating. So Gorik describes the fruit’s unripe state; a cured green olive is ready to serve.

Gorik tastes grassy and sharp when unripe, with a strong bitter, astringent edge before curing. After the bitterness is reduced, its flavor is more olive-like and can remain firmer and more pungent than that of a fully ripe olive.

Yes, cured Gorik can be added to cooked dishes, but its assertive, salty flavor may season the dish as well. Add it toward the end of cooking so it warms through without losing too much of its firm texture.

Yes, unripe Gorik can be pressed into olive oil. Oil made from early-harvest olives is often more pungent and grassy; the fresh fruit itself still needs curing if you want to serve it as a table olive.

Store opened, brined Gorik in the refrigerator, submerged in its brine. Use a clean utensil each time and keep the container closed; olives exposed to air or handled with a used utensil are more likely to spoil.

Yes, you can freeze Gorik, though freezing may soften its texture after thawing. Drain and dry the olives first, freeze them in a sealed container, and reserve thawed Gorik for cooking if its texture is no longer firm enough to serve as a table olive.