One of my favourite cocktails is a Dry Martini, shaken with a couple of olives. The olive is not just a pretty garnish to the martini. The saltiness and brininess of the olive help to highlight the aromatics in the gin, complement the vermouth, and counterbalance the Martini’s invigorating intensity.
If one prefers a martini on the wild side, one can enjoy a Dirty Martini where some of the olive brine is added to give the drink a pleasingly savoury character.
I received my bucket of olives from the Klaasvoogds valley near Robertson on Friday. Saturday was taken up by baking Christmas cake and that meant that Sunday was occupied with the bottling of Towerwater inspired olives. I added lemon, bay leaves, garlic and other fresh herbs from the garden to the jars of olives.
I enjoy making the special Towerwater olives. It not only makes the martinis I serve uniquely Towerwater martinis, but all the other dishes containing some of the olives, is like tasting the Towerwater garden.
After bottling the olives I admired their smooth round bodies in the jars and wondered which one of them were in search of a Dry Martini, I am sure I will soon find out.
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"The martini felt cool and clean… I had never tasted anything so cool and clean. They made me feel civilized.” - Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms (1929)
Stunning. Love the Hemingway quotation
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