I have them sitting in brine, in a jar on the kitchen bench.

I tasted one yesterday, and yuck ! - they are still very bitter.

This is the first time I have done this with olives and wonder if this is the best way to turn them into edible food.

Any ideas for improving my method would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

I'm curious as to whether you are changing the brine daily? That would speed up the leeching out of the bitter flavours versus just letting them sit in the same salt water solution. But even so, most recipes I've looked at say to keep changing the brine daily for a week to two weeks or even longer, using taste to know when they are done, before putting them in jars.

I've had mine soaking in brine (fresh daily) for a week and they're still a little bitter. I'm sure variety and ripeness will affect how long it takes, also the strength of the salt solution etc. Did you prick or slit the olive flesh? Apparently this speeds up the process a bit.

Happy pickling!