I'm assuming you looked in soap and drain cleaner sections?
That is about the only place I can think of.
I think Red Devil is one brand.
I bet you could find it on-line or maybe Lowes, Target, OSH.

What you are looking for is sodium hydroxide. One brand is Draino, it's granuals in a can. It should be sold in grocery stores or hardwear stors like ACE.
Donna

Doesn't Draino have other stuff in it? I guess I'll have to go read labels.

If you haven't found it yet, try a feed/grain store.

You could probably obtain sodium hydroxide (NaOH) from a company that provides soap-making supplies. As an alternative to the caustic soda you could try brine-curing the olives.

Ryan

In rereading my instructions they call for lye flakes.... not crystals. I'll try Fresno Ag tomorrow..... they have everything.

If you don't find it, Westelle, let me know. Father-in-law does the olive thing every year, and he uses lye, so I can find out where he gets it. :)

Brenda

Sorry, we had a communications breakdown here on the homestead. :D

FIL uses Red Devil lye, as was mentioned above. Below is a link to where you might find it if you're having troubles. :)

Brenda

Here is a link that might be useful: Where to buy

They don't sell lye over the counter any more. Try a soapmaking site... but since it is an ingredient in making Meth, you have to sign all sorts of papers proving you want to use it for 'good' reasons. Plus, shipping it is a problem, you will end up paying for it. I would NOT use draino!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Texas Natural Supply

This Fri (Sept 29th) at 9:30 AM the Fresno Master Gardeners are having a workshop on curing olives at the Garden of the Sun on Winery Ave. I'm sure they will have info about where you can get lye.

Thanks! Maybe I'll just show up and hope they have room.

Sorry...that should be Sat Sept 29th...not Fri!

Thanks for the correction.... it makes more sense since they usually have these sorts of classes on Saturdays. I haven't woken up enough yet to get my day organized, but I think I would have tried to be at that class. Unfortunately we have a group of workmen coming tomorrow (Sat.) so I won't be able to go.

I picked a whole 5 lbs from my little tree and decided to process with salt instead. Actually, all the green ones are in one jar in a brine bath, the red ones are in a salt bath, and the black ones are in just water that has to be changed 3 times a day. I guess I'm experimenting to see what end-product we like.

Next year I'll try to buy the lye sooner.

I was having similar issues finding lye this year, as was my Uncle over the last couple of years. Yesterday, I discovered a local supplier of technical grade available in 50# bags...delivered with no hassles!!
Anyone still needing lye, should call Russel at Britz Chemicals...his cell# is(559)284-1570
I don't know if I got a special deal on it or not, but let's just say I saved a bunch!

This year I bought a small can at Fresno Ag Hardware. I certainly don't need 50#! You must have a lot of raisins.

This was my first year for olives also. I purchased a jar of fancy olives for $11 bucks and it had garlic, peppers, red, green and bi-colored olives all together.

I decided that I was going to cure some, so I researched for hours! I opted out of lye and went for salt brine. They have been in brine now for about a month. I tasted one small one and it was delicious! I change the brine weekly.

My big question now is what should I do to the garlic, lemons, peppers, herbs, etc that I add for flavor to the final step. Like I need to kill any lurking bacteria on that stuff also! I have heard freezing them kills bacteria, so that might be a good option.

And good luck on your search for lye.

Many products used for cleaning drains or where not specifically shown to be pure soduium hydroxide will contain additional products.

In the case of drain cleaners addatives to cause foaming so as to distribute the sodium hydroxide include:

aluminum pieces. This creates hydrogen gas bubbles and helps to distribute the sodium hydroxide liquid. I believe every dry drain cleaner I've seen contains aluminum pieces.

New develpments , Jul 2009, are moving towards creating a foam to distribute the sodium hydroxide. This keeps it in contact with the plug more easily than if it were a liquid.

Please add SPECIFIC sites and names with upc codes if you find a pure product for any thread where someone is looking for a pure product. Thankfully it's often the case that a low quality product is taken from the same assembly line as the higher quality products. It's simply
eaiser to do this as the level of quality is not different and creating a 2nd or third assembly line makes no financial sense. I believe this is done for antibiotics used for fish and humans both come from the same assembly line and are simply packaged separately.

FROM ABOVE "My big question now is what should I do to the garlic, lemons, peppers, herbs, etc that I add for flavor to the final step. Like I need to kill any lurking bacteria on that stuff also! I have heard freezing them kills bacteria, so that might be a good option."
COMMENT:
You CANNOT add the above outside of a refrigerator. You cannot sterilize these items outside a commercial canning operation. Freezing will do NOTHING with respect to lowering the bacteria load that cause human illness. You cannot "home can" you final product either as there is no approved process. Yes, I know the Romans did it 2000 years ago but you can't do it today.
Hope this helps. I have been through the process. I hope you have an extra refrigerator.
Regards - Jim in So. Calif.

As I recall from my youth we used lye in our hot dipping water for the prunes before sun drying the prunes. We also used burning sulfur in our Apricot houses before sun drying the apricots. Although the bigger farms were using gas fired dehydrators for their fruit we thought the sun dried fruit was better tasting, and had customers driving long distances for it. Al

With regards to home canning, couldn't you pressure can it?