A Knife Is All You Need To Pit Olives Like A Pro
Let's get to the point (or pit) of it: pitting olives is extremely annoying. Olives are relatively small compared to other stone fruits like peaches. Unlike its summery stone fruit cousins, it can feel nearly impossible to get the pit out of the olive's flesh because the olive itself isn't big like a nectarine, for example. That pit in the center of the olive takes up a sizeable amount of real estate. That's why it's important to know how to pit an olive and in this case, it's with a little elbow grease and the flat side of a knife.
Consider your other options: you could always buy an olive pitter, which is a one-trick pony that will take up valuable space in your kitchen drawer. Or you could buy pitted olives, which can be more expensive and/or not give you the exact olive variety you want. Or, you could take the chef's way out and use a knife you definitely already have in your kitchen
Olive this trick and so will you
No, you will not be using the sharp side of the knife to slice open the olive. You're going to use some of your arm strength, though. All you need to do is put the olive on a flat surface like a cutting board, take the flat side of a large knife, and apply pressure downward. The olive should split, leaving a cleft large enough to take the pit right out. The olive isn't pulverized, the pit isn't smashed into the flesh, and your patience isn't completely gone.
Recipe developer and cookbook author Susan Spungen tells Epicurious that there are a few olives that won't work so well with this technique — for example, pale green Castelvetrano olives tend to cling tightly to their pits and need to be sliced away to really separate the flesh from the pit, but for many olive varieties, this is the way to go.
No pit, no problem
Unlike peaches or nectarines, olives are technically a stone fruit (or drupe) because of that pit. However, unlike its juicy cousins like apricots and plums that really reach their peak in warm summer months, olives can be enjoyed year-round. This is because they are cured or fermented to reduce their bitterness, which is why they can be bought in the jarred section of grocery stores. That means you can plan your olive-centric dinner and lunch menus with abandon.
They are classic in a martini (and though you will not need the aforementioned pitting technique, blue cheese-stuffed olives are a delicious savory addition to your pitted olive skewer). It's impossible to imagine pasta puttanesca without that pop of olive flavor. Now, you'll never be captive to hoping you can find pitted olives or smashing the olives to smithereens when trying to remove the pit. You have the perfect pitting trick down pat.