Pickling some onions
At the end of June I harvested my onions. Not the greatest haul - I didn't get my preferred variety in the autumn when I planted them. Still okay. They have been 'curing', which is a fancy way of saying I've just ignored them for nearly a month while they shed stalks and skin that blows all over the place.
Ignored no more! It's pickling time. I love pickled onions. I just have to think about them and I start salivating. There are at least four varieties in my kitchen at all times.
So. I selected the small ones. The ones if you cut them in half there'd be nothing left. Perfect for pickling. There ended up being seventy five. Which is more than last year - the whole batch is on the smaller side.
Pickling is a two part job. The first worst part is prepping the onions. Homegrown onions are strong which is great for eating but hard work chopping and peeling. I wept. I took breaks. (My hands smelled of onions for two days.) After the whole evening of bloody onions I rinsed, dried, and salted them to dry them out for crunch. Into the fridge overnight.
The second part is the fun part - preparing the vinegar and jarring them up. There are recipes and formulas and guides for the spices, the proportions, the maths. I... do not. I have eyeballs and I like my pickles strong. Everything goes in. Peppercorns, mustard seeds, chilli flakes, coriander seeds. That gets heated up in the vinegar - Sarsons pickling vinegar for me.
I rounded up some extra jars by promising to return them full of pickles. Baked the jars, rinsed the onions, put them in, added the vinegar. Some people strain out the spices because they will get stronger if they stay in. Which to me is the whole point.
On their way to their new homes
For the rest of the onions the larger ones I will string and hang when they've cured a bit more. The mid-sized ones and any that look a bit dodgy I will peel, chop, and freeze. Frozen onion is perfectly good to use if it was going to be cooked anyway.
Next up for preserving: kimchi if the slugs and caterpillars let the cabbages grow.
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