Pickling Mania

This week's recipe: Pickled Red Onions

Baby’s first pickle

In the same way that my girls loved anything salty when they were little, from a very early age they each went *crazy* for pickles. I can still remember the look on the diner waitress’s face when each of them would order a side of half-sours to go along with their breakfast pancakes. I guess pickles have been having a moment for a few years now, but it seems they have inched their way into all kinds of cuisine. Nowadays there are pickle martinis. Pickle Jell-o shots. Pickle cream cheese. Pickle cupcakes. Sonic has an entire menu—the Big Dill Meal—centered on pickles, including a Picklerita Slush. [The jury’s out on that one in my house.]

It’s not just about pickled cucumbers, though. Many kinds of fruits and vegetables lend themselves well to pickling, but particularly onions. Pickling onions enhances their distinct flavor while bringing forward sweet, salty, and tangy tastes that don’t exist when the onions are raw. I make pickled red onions all the time and the girls gobble them up, putting them on scrambled eggs, avocado toast, salads, burgers, rice bowls, tacos, charcuterie, you name it. Thankfully, making pickled onions is a simple process, and this time of year it’s easy to find farm-fresh onions almost anywhere, so grab a bunch and get pickling!

Pickled Red Onions

To yield four half-pint (8 ounce) or two pint (16 ounce) mason jars

• 2¼ cups apple cider vinegar

• ¾ cup water

• 2 teaspoons salt

• 2 Tablespoons honey

• 4 cups thinly sliced red onions

• 4 bay leaves (optional)

• 2 teaspoons peppercorns of any variety (optional)

I use red pearl onions here, but you can use full-size red onions. Bermuda onions are the red onion equivalent to sweet Vidalia onions, and they are good in this recipe, too.

You can slice the onions by hand, but you can also use a mandoline if you have one. If you go this route, be safe and wear your cut-resistant gloves. Take it from me, who once had an EMT say while bandaging up my pinky, “Fingers be bleedy.”

Combine the vinegar, water, salt, and honey in a saucepan and heat at medium-high until it begins to boil. Remove from heat and transfer to a 4-cup heat-proof glass measuring cup if you have it; you can also use a heat-proof bowl.

Pack the onion slices into four jars; tuck a bay leaf into each and sprinkle ½ teaspoon of peppercorns over the onions. Pour ¾ cup of hot brine into each jar; let sit for 10-15 minutes until things have cooled down a little, then seal the jars and refrigerate. The onions will keep in the fridge for at least two months if not longer.

If using two jars: place two bay leaves in each jar and sprinkle each with 1 teaspoon of peppercorns. Fill each jar with 1½ cups of brine and follow the rest of the directions.