Pitted Baby Kalamata Olives

Bought these as part of my pantry stock for the pandemic stay at home order. I knew with the amount of time we would be at home we needed tons of olives, kalamatas can be expensive if you eat them regularly. We eat them with eggs and feta for breakfast, alone for home happy hour, pasta pizza topping & tapenade on fresh bread. Two months and we are only about half way through the olives, great value and nice fresh product. Not mushy, not broken, not foamy, these are fine. Container is a bit tricky to open at first but gets easier as you go along. Update: 01/23/2021 these olives were purchase in March of 2020 numerous delicious meals made with them, also used for home charcuterie. The were delicious briny olives up until about one month ago, the container is almost empty I will reorder but after 10 months the briny-ness has turned to just salty, they were still briny in November but not January. The olives themselves are still edible and useful in recipes but for snacking a tad too salty. If you are buying for the long term after about 8 months they may get a bit salty. With that said you can’t beat having these along with puff pastry, feta and spinach in your fridge/freezer. Instant delicious meal.

This review is for Roland Foods Pitted Baby Kalamata Olives from Greece, 4+ pounds. I eat a lot of olives, and Kalamatas are one of my favorites. Tried these and am very happy with the buy. The large plastic jar arrived okay despite poor padding in the box (the first shipment apparently failed, as UPS returned it as un-deliverable). The olives are very good. They are firm, fully pitted, and have a great flavor. Like nearly all packaged Kalamatas, these come in a brine/ vinegar solution that is too strong for my taste, but probably needed to keep them fresh for a very long time. To get them to my liking, I place a cup or two at a time into another container, drain off about 3/4 of the brine, and replace it with purified water. By the next day they taste perfect, and these diluted olives will still remain good in the refrigerator for a month or more. If they are too diluted, a little kosher salt and Balsamic vinegar can be added and the flavor will strengthen. One thing about cured olives, salinity or pH can be adjusted easily in either direction at will with no ill effects other than storage life changes. I will buy these again.

I've used these at home and in my restaurant. If you're only used to the near perfect small portion jars of bigger olives you usually get at a grocery store, these may not be your thing. I've you've travelled in Europe or studied Mediterranean or Middle Eastern cuisine, you'll love them. They're varied with a strong afterbite that makes them thoroughly authentic. I will grant you olives this size are generally served with the pits still in to keep them pretty. They're not going to have the same robust appearance larger olives have once pitted. But if you're mostly cooking with them, that won't matter. The pitting is convenient for bulk use and regardless of how star-quality they may or may not be visually, they are a top tier brine and flavor profile.

Kalamata's are my favorite type of olives. Up until now, I have been buying the Kalamata's from Costco. But when I realize I had run out, I just couldn't stomach the thought of going into Costco for just one item. So I looked on Amazon for one, and these caught my eye. I read through all of the reviews and thought, what the heck, let's give these a try! Many reviewers commented that they were salty. I thought to myself, 'Have these people never had an olive before??!". Heh. But, they were right. Although the sodium label say they are nearly identical in sodium quantity to the olives I've been getting from Costco, the taste says otherwise. These are SO SALTY that instead of eating half a bowl of them, I can only eat a few before the salt just gets to me. The solution is simple. As other reviewers have mentioned, you can soak them in water and after a few days, they're fine. Many reviewers say to watch out for pits! I must have been fortunate in my batch because there has not been a pit in sight! Would I repurchase? No. They are smaller than the Kalamatas that I have been used to getting. The extra step of soaking in water is something I just don't want to do! I am lazy and want to eat my olives on a whim, without making sure they've had enough soaking time! Asthetically, it appears the pitting process does quite a bit of damage and the ends where the pit has been removed... the ends are kind of ragged and torn. Definitely not the sort of olives I might put out for guests to put on an appetizer plate! But they taste great and you certainly can't beat the price!

FOR THE MONEY - The Roland Baby Pitted Olive is an EXCELLENT Value. BUT, with this value comes a slightly lesser eating quality in comparison to "the other" brand and even Roland's mature olive. I still like these olives and will still buy these olives due to the price. Overall, they are a good olive with a taste that is slightly less olive-like, more bitter than the others at a higher price. These olives are still firm, there might be 10 pits in the whole 4.4 pounds and we eat them every day. They all have that beautiful kalamata varied color scheme and are a pleasure to have on any plate. Best Value Out There. Highly Recommended.

The flavor of these medium/small pitted olives are so delicious and not too salty at all and they come moist and plump in a plastic tub/jar. These olives are not swimming in brine like your typical olives. Because these olives have such an intense 'umami' flavor, you don't need very much for a single recipe. Be aware that these are NOTHING like regular black olives (not even close, comparing Kalamata olives to regular black olives would be like comparing Balsamic vinegar to distilled white vinegar---not even close[!]). If you mince a few of these up and add them to your garlic butter with some Parmesan cheese for garlic bread...super yum! Whatever you do, don't order these olives with items in the same order that are HEAVY because the plastic lid broke off of mine in my original order and the plastic jar was also busted open. What a mess (oily bits of olives strewn EVERYWHERE and on everything in the shipping box). Amazon replaced the damaged olives quickly and the replacement was in perfect condition (thankfully). This is the kind of item that really needs it's own box with extra insulated packing to reduce the risk of busting open if packed with a lot of other items within a bigger box. *Note: If you EVER have a problem with a food purchase from Amazon, never hesitate to contact them and they will replace the order or refund you. Just because they don't take food returns does NOT mean they won't do their best to make you satisfied with your purchase if you have a problem or issue with expired or damaged goods.

If you love black olives, you will love these. They are pricey but all olives are now, and these are competitively priced. Most of all, the quality could't be better. For me, this ranks up there with coffee as a "necessary" luxury.

Super happy with these! I love kalamata olives and took a chance on pitted "baby" ones, hoping they wouldn't just be destroyed. Win! They are in beautiful shape and I'm really surprised they were as cheap as they were! Tasty, perfect morsels, perfectly pitted and brined, these are going to be on subscription. Some say they're really salty, and while they are a bit salty, my opinion is they are normal in that regard, no need to rinse. I like to take a small Ball jar and fill it with the olives which I remove with a large slotted spoon leaving the brine behind in the jug. I then take 4-8 whole, peeled cloves of garlic, slice them in half , place the halves down in the olives and then fill the jar with a good Olive oil (doesn't take much with these, they're small and take up lots of jar space. After even 1 day in the fridge they taste amazing, mellows out the sharpness of the Olive just a bit and adds a wonderful dimension flavor while leaving the Olive flavor front and center. Great buy, I'd recommend to anyone!