My daughter is trying her hand at curing some olives. Here is a great resource we found from UC Davis, Olives, Safe Methods for Pickling
We are using the water curing methods, no lye. Frankly lye scares me. It's more popular uses are for the production of methamphetamine, food curing, and soap. My grandmother-in-law was just telling me the other day about her adventures making laundry soap as a child. After butchering large animals on the farm She would mix the tallow and lye in a large cauldron over an open fire reducing it to soap. She advised the soap was not for contact with human skin. I'm sticking with the water cure method.
