My first choice of martini garnish is always a pickled mushroom. Blue cheese stuffed olive is second.
But I have had a very nice martini garnished with a black olive stuffed with salmon mousse. That was good!
I’d think any pickled veggie would do in a pinch, it’s the vinegary whang that the olive brings to the drink that you’re after, right?
How about a cherry?
In one old magazine cartoon a hostess tells her shocked guests, some of whom have already started sipping their martinis,
“I was out of olives, so I used clams.”
We call that “straight vodka”. There’s no martini there. It’s like “a margarita , hold the triple sec and lime, no salt”. aka straight tequila.
Actually, a gin sour is a different drink than a gimlet. Similar, sure, but not the same. If I ask for a gimlet and get gin and sour, it’s getting sent back. Gin and Rose’s for me, or Roses cut with lime juice if you’re feeling fancy. I’ve made it with homemade like syrup, but I just need the Rose’s for it to taste right to me.
I have no idea but I got an olive in my manhattan when I ordered one at a craft beer bar because I just couldn’t choke down another bitter craft beer.
If you use a black olive it could be an Althea Gibson.
Though that name is likely too old for most of you.
A Treiftini.
A friend of mine would make martunis with a pickled tomato. I never really liked martunis, but I loved those pickled tomatoes. They were about the size of a nickel. Delicious.
Too bad I just threw out an old jar of pickled jalapeno slices. I’d experiment and let you know.
Good point. You want a lashing of salt and vinegar as you sip the last of the drink.
Still, you want to avoid certain flavors. I have some cornichon-sized garlic-dill pickles that are extremely delicious, but I don’t think I want garlic or dill in my aperitif.
The piparra, though, was delightful.
So If you made one with an olive half and an onion half stuck together you’d have a Martison?
I love using jalapeno stuffed olives, something about the heat/booze just does it for me.
If you come to my house and there are no green olives in my fridge, bake a casserole because I am dead.
That came off as rather macabre on first reading…
No need for name-calling.
About the only martini I’ve had in 30 years is a Cajun martini made with a jalapeno. It was part of a special Cajun menu set up by Paul Prudhomme to educate New Yorkers about real Cajun food.
Maybe Ginger SHOULD lay off the sauce. 
Do you like limes? A twist of lime peel, a small slice of key lime, or a bit of meyer lemon peel also does the trick. My wife doesn’t like lemons at all, but she does like limes and meyer lemons so that’s what goes in hers. I get three jalapeno or blue cheese stuffed olives in mine.
I’ve also been playing around with bitters and Dillon’s wormwood bitters was really good for a change up. I like using Tanquery 10 or Hendrick’s for gin.
Blue cheese stuffed olives seem to be a Chicago thing. I’m frequently offered them when I’m in the Windy City.
My preference is anchovy-stuffed, but I like anchovies. Francesca’s on Taylor Street has a barkeep that will stuff an anchovy into a naked pitted olive just for me. I tip him well.
Here in New York, custom olives don’t happen to me in bars. I keep my eye out for anchovy-stuffed olives in fancy-food stores, although I have also found them in ordinary groceries.