You've likely spent hours lovingly picking these olives, sorting, washing / polishing (!) and maybe even sliced them before putting them down to ferment in brine. Only to check them some weeks later to find they have a mysterious growth on top.
Oh no all that labour of love ruined!
Have my olives gone bad? Will they make me (and others) sick?
Maybe not! As with a lot of things, it depends....on what kind of growth the olives have and what it smells like. Generally one that smells 'fermenty' is OK, and if the growth is solid rather than furry (like you sometimes find on forgotten food in the back of a fridge) then hoorah! scrape it off an carry on with your ferment.
Also double check your salt levels... did you start at the right quantlty?
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