For those of you who expressed an interest, my sister and I went ahead and cured a small bucket of olives using salt and water. We changed the brine once a week. By the end of 4 weeks, they did taste very salty so my sister reduced the salt for the last two weeks by which time I had left. She then bottled them with just a little salt and water, olive oil, oregano and garlic. She said they are delicious and have had rave reviews from her friends.Oooh, let us know how it goes. With pictures obvs.