Photo: RNZ/Carol Stiles
Lots of people think they’ve come up with a great idea after a Christmas party, but few actually remember them the next day. The three founders of Auckland olive brine business Dirty International are the exception to the rule.
Co-founder Jodi Litherland tells Afternoons that she and friends Sarah Afeaki and Vanessa Robson were inspired to start the business following a fruitless cocktail search after a Christmas party.
“We tried to find a good dirty martini and couldn't, so on the ferry ride home we got brainstorming and came up with the idea. We registered the company and then spent a couple of months trying to find the product.”
The trio teamed up with Geoff Crawford from Telegraph Hill Olives in Hawkes Bay to source leftover brine from the olive curing process. Olives are soaked in salted water for 18 to 24 months, and the resulting brine takes on the flavour of the olives.
Dirty International Olive Brine turns a waste product into a useful condiment. Photo: Supplied
“Basically it seemed too good to waste,” Litherland says.
“It just develops the flavour over time… it’s a delicious umami flavour, with a clean, clean, crisp taste."
“We decided to bottle it up and have a product that's 100 percent olive brine, none of the nasties and 100 percent New Zealand made and owned.”
While the brine is traditionally used in dirty martinis, Litherland says it also works well in other cocktails, such as a dirty bloody Mary or a dirty margarita. It’s also a surprisingly useful ingredient in cooking.
“We've also just used worked out that it lends itself really well to any Mediterranean dishes. I use it in my cheese sauce all the time, spaghetti bolognaise, it can be added to storebought hummus, all sorts of things. I throw it into everything now.”
Celebrity baker Jordan Rondel also developed a vegan olive and peach cake recipe using the brine.
“It really lends itself to a multiple of culinary dishes and it's just a real easy cooking condiment that we use all the time now.”
The company launched in 2020 as a side hustle for the three women, who all have full-time jobs.
“We’ve got eight kids collectively between us so it’s been something that we’ve just plodded away on.”
Dirty Margarita Photo: Supplied
Dirty Margarita
45ml silver tequila
15ml Cointreau
15ml agave syrup (or sugar syrup)
15ml Dirty International Olive Brine
45ml freshly squeezed lime juice
Shake well over ice and strain into a salt-rimmed glass. Garnish with an olive if desired and serve.
