Olives Marinées

Alain Fert sells his own tiny, delicious Nyons olives, cured in a simple brine solution, the only treatment he considers necessary, or even acceptable for high-quality olives. But not all olives are as perfect as those from Nyons: some can be improved by marinating. On one stall at the Nyons Thursday market there were 20 different varieties, some with bright yellow lemon halves or hot chilli peppers; some mixed with brilliant wedges of sweet red, green and yellow papers or feathery wild fen