Red onion pickle
This Danish-style red onion pickle is light, bright and easy to make. It is inspired by my good friend and Danish preserving guru Helena Grayston. Aside from forking it straight from the jar, you’ll find it wonderfully versatile to serve with salads, grilled or fried foods, or try it in sandwiches or on top of hot dogs.
For this recipe you will need 400ml/14fl oz sterilised jars. For information on sterilising see the Recipe Tips.
Ingredients
- 3 large red onions (about 500g/1lb 2oz peeled weight)
- 2 tsp fine sea salt
- 200ml/7fl oz cider vinegar
- 50g/1¾oz granulated sugar
- 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
- 4 bay leaves
Method
Peel the onions, cut them in half from top to bottom and finely slice into half-moon pieces. Put in a colander placed over a bowl and sprinkle with salt, lightly turning over the onion pieces with your hands so the surfaces are all covered. Set aside for an hour or so to brine.
Meanwhile put the vinegar, 50ml/2fl oz water and the sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer, stirring to help the sugar dissolve, and cook for a couple of minutes. Set aside.
Pack the onions into the sterilised jars, sprinkling in a little pepper as you go. Cover with the warm vinegar and finish by tucking a couple of bay leaves down the side of the jars. Seal. The onions are best kept in the fridge and used within to 4 weeks.
Recipe Tips
The salt draws out the excess moisture from the vegetables, which will help keep them crisp, intensify their flavour and improve their preservation by preventing the excess water diluting the vinegar.
Prepare your jars and lids shortly before you need them. You can do this by putting them through a hot (60C) dishwasher cycle shortly before you need them (don’t try to dry them with a tea towel, let them air dry) or wash them in hot water then place in an oven preheated to 140C/120C Fan/Gas 1 for 15 minutes (switch off the oven and leave the jars inside until needed). Alternatively, place the jars in a large stock pot with a clean folded cloth or trivet placed on the base, cover the jars completely with cold water and bring to simmering point (90C) for 10 minutes, next remove the pan from the heat and leave the jars in the hot water until you need them. When your preserve is ready, carefully remove the jars from the pan, tipping out the water as you do so – pair of bottling tongs makes this job easy, but otherwise use ordinary tongs.
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