3-Ingredient Pickled Onions Make Summer Last All Year

Summer is bountiful. Now is the ideal time to capture that abundance in preserving jars. By doing so, the labors of your summer harvest or that of your local farmers’ can be savored in the late fall, throughout the winter months and into early spring.

Last month we captured the flavor of apricots in season. This month, let’s keep it simple with pickling just-plucked-from-the-earth onions.

Onions, one of the oldest cultivated crops, are ubiquitous in every cuisine. Where they originated is difficult to determine, especially because cultivated onions are actually layers of leaves surrounding an immature flower. Onion leaves, rich in water content, degrade rapidly and leave little to no archaeological traces. Botanists, archaeologists and food historians think onions originated in Central Asia, West Pakistan and/or Persia. Allium cepa is the Latin name for the common onion.

On the Upper West Side of New York City during the last week of August, I visited our green farmers market on 97th Street. Within the August farmers’ cornucopias, I spotted several onion varieties to pick from: basic yellow and red, long and narrow Red Tropeas, small Cipollinis and shallots. You can choose your favorite onion variety for pickling.

I grew up with this recipe. It is my and my father’s favorite summer condiment. You can make this simple onion pickle with only three ingredients: onions, salt and vinegar. Instead of brining the onions overnight, which I find makes them too salty, we salt the onions then gently mix and squeeze the mixture. This action releases the juices and gets the salt into the onions. The purpose is to have the slightly salted onions soak up the vinegar and remain crunchy, even after a few weeks in the fridge.

If you use red onions, enjoy the vibrant pink color that seeps out of the slices. Add the pickled onions as a side to grilled meats, with any rice dish or to top your favorite burger. You get the crunch and salty flavor with a bit of oniony bite on the side.

Khurshid’s Simple Pickled Onions

Ingredients
3 medium-size onions
½ cup salt
2 to 3 cups vinegar (apple cider or any mild and smooth vinegar)

Directions
1. Peel the onions, cut in half, then cut in quarters and slice thinly.
2. Place the sliced onions in a colander, sprinkle on the salt so it coats all the onions, then gently mix and squeeze the onions, but not too hard.
3. Allow the onions to sit in the colander for an hour while the juices release.
4. Rinse the salted onions completely under cold water. Gently squeeze out any excess water.
5. Put the onions in two 8-ounce preserving jars. Do not pack the onions down.
6. Add vinegar up to the rims, close with the lids and place in the refrigerator. You can start eating them after they’ve been refrigerated for one day.

Originally published on Zester Daily, August 2013.