Candied California Ripe Olives

Preheat oven to 250°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pat olives very dry between paper towels. Place on baking sheet and bake for 2 hours. Turn oven off and leave olives in oven to dry for 6 hours. (There should be very little moisture left in the olive and they will be very small.) Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper. Stir together sugar and orange juice in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook until mixture reaches 245°F on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat and quickly stir in olives. Scoop onto baking sheet but do not scrape excess sugar mixture from pan. Quickly separate with 2 forks. After a minute or when cool enough to handle, separate olives and drop into sugar, rolling to coat. Best served the same day, or store refrigerated in a single layer in sugar.