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Photo by Holly A. Heyser
OK, anyone who has read this space for very long should know that onions or garlic in some form or another appear in pretty much every recipe I create. I love onions. I love growing them, I love eating them, and I especially love finding them wild.
Whether we’re talking wild ramps, which don’t grow here in California, the skinny field garlics, delicate French shallots, stately leeks, or those bawdy sweet onions — so luscious they tempt you to eat them raw, like an apple – I love them all. I sure hope the allium clan is good for you, because I probably consume close to 75 heads of garlic and 100 pounds of onions a year.
My onion year starts with the long-storing, humble yellow onion. A sulphurous bitch she is, but despite making me cry on a routine basis I adore her anyway. Call me Tammy Wynette. In return, however, she is a constant companion, rarely spoiling and willing to help me make scores of recipes that much better.
Photo by Hank Shaw
Since I live in California, Fraulein Yellow must contend with a nubile competitor: The winter green onion. I grow several slender varieties that last all winter long, but my favorite is a Japanese onion that never sets a bulb. It is sweet for a scallion, and using it in a hearty winter dish makes me think of spring, when everything is young and green. The regal leek also persists through my winters, but she is aloof and yearns only to be included in classical French dishes. Leeks are the ladies who lunch.
Spring brings the garlic chives, regular chives and bunching onions. I revel in this rave of green alliums from March to May, and the hits of that party are our local green garlics and the fresh young ramps I get from back East.
By late May, the first gigantic sweet onions burst on the scene. Stockton Sweets and Vidalias, and for those of you who live around Sacramento, the epic Placer Sweets. These are sweet onions so large that just one will make an entire serving of caramelized onions for a family; they’re like that big girl who has all the curves in all the places she oughta. The Germans have a term that applies perfectly to both: Zaftig.
Summer brings the new garlic, that garlic that is fully separated into bulbs, but the sheaths around them are still supple, the cloves still loaded with moisture. This is the time to gorge yourself on garlic, when its bite is tamed with an almost floral follow-up. Make your 40-clove chicken recipe in early June, folks, and you’ll understand why it’s a classic.
Green onions of all shapes and varieties abound all the way to the cold weather, in November. That’s when we all fall in love again with Fraulein Yellow. She waits for you to return, knowing you always will.
This is my year. So why, you might ask, would I ever need to hold onto any of my allium loves longer than during the times when they are fresh and bright? I suspect part of it is because, like all people, we want most what we can no longer have. So I pickle my onions. In fact, I pickle quite a lot of onions.
Now pickling onions, garlics and ramps is not the same thing as carrying around a faded picture of a lost love in your wallet. That’s just an image. A good pickled onion, on the other hand, is something entirely different, something transformative.
I am especially fond of pickled sweet onions. My zaftig friends don’t stick around very long, as their moisture content rots them in a fraction of the time Fraulein Yellow can handle sitting on a shelf. Plus, their large layers make them awkward in tight settings. Ever try to do a brunoise with a Vidalia? Can’t be done.
But sweet onions are excellent pickled. I like to push that sweetness with a sweet-and-sour pickle, too. My pickled sweet onions also have a little ginger, a little mint. These onions are arguably the world’s best hamburger topping. Or if you feel like Mexican, the best possible topping for cochinita pibil, the best braised pork dish I’ve ever eaten.
I’ve done variations on that pickle for more than a decade. What I’d never done was pickle ramp bulbs. And I would never have, until I got several pounds of them from Earthy Delights. Now I’ve eaten lots of ramps before, and I’d always wondered about that stink they supposedly possess. I have never encountered it. Guess I never worked with mature ramp bulbs before.
The FedEx guy winced as he said, “What on earth do you have here?” Ramps, I said. He shook his head and walked away. I got them in the house and boy howdy did they have a powerful aroma! I put them in the fridge.
Hmmm… I thought. I needed to deal with these fast or they’d smell up the whole fridge. Ramp bulbs, I decided, are the divas of the allium sisterhood. Powerful, beautiful, lush and bold, they demand your attention. Now.
Photo by Hank Shaw
There was no way I could eat several pounds of ramp bulbs before they wrecked the fridge, so I decided to pickle them. But how? Not too long ago I read about a pickle in Medieval Persia that contained saffron, honey and “aromatic herbs.” Sounded pretty cool, so I decided that thyme would be the lucky aromatic herb to spend a year with my ramp bulbs.
I can’t tell you how they tasted. They’re not done yet. My full recipe for pickled ramps with saffron and honey is here, and yes you can substitute garlic or pearl onions. But even though I can’t tell you yet how they taste, I can tell you they sure are pretty.
Photo by Holly A. Heyser
Starting at these I am now certain that ramp bulbs are divas: They are calling to me to let them out of their golden cage, and I won’t be able to resist for very long. I will eat them, enjoy them immensely, get stinky breath and no one else will want to be around me. It’ll just be me, and my ramps. And I’ll be OK with that.
Until they’re gone. That’s when all the other onions will return to their rightful place on my plate. Especially Fraulein Yellow. She’s always there for me, and always will be.
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PICKLED SWEET ONIONS
The only thing I like better on a burger than caramelized onions is sweet pickled onions. Here is my recipe for a zingy sweet-and-sour onion that has a hit of ginger and either lemon verbena (tastes like lemon in a leaf) or regular mint. You’ll get the best results for this recipe by using sweet onions, either red or yellow. Vidalia, Stockton sweets, Walla Walla or Maui sweets are all good choices. They are usually available in springtime. Of course you can use regular onions, too, just up the sugar a little.
Use these onions in sandwiches, as part of a pickle plate, with fatty things like confit or pate or rillettes, or just on toast. This is the ideal burger or hot dog onion, in my opinion.
Makes 4 quarts (can be halved or doubled)
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
- 4 pounds sweet onions
- 4 cups red wine vinegar
- 2 cups distilled vinegar
- 3 cups water
- 4 tablespoons kosher salt
- 1 1/2 cups sugar or honey
- 8 garlic cloves, sliced
- 4 inches of peeled fresh ginger, sliced
- 4 tablespoons dried mint or lemon verbena
- Slice the onions as you wish: I like thickish strips as long as my thumb, but you could dice the onion or make big half-moons. Your choice.
- Get your canning jars and big pot of water ready. Remember you will need to keep the jars off the bottom of the canning pot — I use a vegetable steamer, but a layer of old canning rims works fine.
- Also remember you will need clean, unused canning lids. You can reuse the rims, but the lids themselves only give a proper seal once.
- In another large pot, bring all the ingredients to a simmer and hold it there until the onions wilt, about 10 minutes.
- Pour into quart jars, being sure to leave the headspace marked by the line on the top of each jar. Wipe off the jars and put the lids and rims on tight. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
- Unopened, these pickles should last a year. Refrigerate after opening.
All the onions sound phenomenal and I want to try and make them all
I normally make pickled onions in malt vinegar and different spices. I look forward to trying something new this year. And that pork dish is definitely going onto my must make list.
Oh — when you said Tammy Wynette, I mistakenly read Tammy Baker. So I imagined her cutting onions and her mascara running down her face.
Hank,
I am going to give your pickled onion recipe a try……..
can I use fresh mint from my garden? or should I leave it out a few days to dry?
Thanks, Stacey
I am still smiling after reading this post. How poetic, sensual and humorous! And all for onions! My oh my, what a romantic son you are! Honestly though, this is one of your best blogs. Just love it!
See you soon – we will have to go foraging together for sure.
Hah, I saw the title in my RSS feed and was all set to mention how awesome pickled onions are with Cochinita Pibil. But you beat me to it! So I simply second it. A year or two ago I made Pibil with a wild boar shoulder and it was good, but pickled onions and a fiery habanero/sour orange salsa made it awesome.
Ah…poetry about the Onion sisters! So beautiful it brought tears to my eyes!
A favorite! Homemade pickled onions shine like nothing a store can provide. A friend of my father-in-law pickles onions for her nacatamales, and I could eat the whole jar!
I can’t wait for your book to come out. You have a captivating writing style that is so easy to read. Have been a long time reader and I am a fellow Sacramento transplant as well. Thanks for your great articles! Nick
I’ve never read anyone wax so eloquent about the Allium family. Of course, they deserve it — and I’ll be pickling the next Allium surfeit I have. (I learned a lesson from peeling some of last year’s garlic only to find it had turned to dust.)
Just to make sure credit is given where credit is due, though — zaftig isn’t German. It’s Yiddish. Yes, the same people who brought you evocative words like ‘shmegege,’ ‘chutzpah,’ and my personal favorite, ‘chazzer’ (that’s a pig — the figurative kind), gave you the word that brought your onions to life. You can thank me later.
i ate a gyro last night and thought about how good it would taste with pickled onions…..it is that time of year.
Mmm. Those pickled onions look delicious. They’re also reminding me, for some reason, of a Japanese pickle that I think is made with garlic cloves, and pink in color. (Don’t remember the name, unfortunately.)
Also, it sounds like you and this fellow should have a chat (possibly over a jar of pickled onions): http://tinyurl.com/36ghgwa
@ adele – loved the article!
What a great article! And very timely too, as I am a first time veggie gardener this year, and I kind of went crazy on the yellow onion and shallot planting. They are all growing very well, and I don’t imagine that I will be able to finish what I harvest before it goes bad. I have been contemplating learning about canning and pickling, and I believe your beautifully written piece just pushed me over the edge.
Cheryl: Onions are traditionally pickled in malt vinegar in Britain, and I will have to try that with the fall onions, which seem better suited to that.
Stacey: I used fresh mint, but dried would work, too.
Russell: Habanero-sour orange salsa? Sounds awesome. Do you have the recipe written down? I make a version of that when I grill mackerel.
Laurie: Niiice…
Tamar: I’m kind of an allium whore, I admit it. I go through a lot of breath mints. So zaftig is Yiddish, huh? Well I sit corrected, thanks!
Adele: I am a big fan of Harold McGee, thanks for passing that article along.
ResSupplyDude: LOVE pickled shallots! You can also slice them thin, crispy fry them and vacuum seal them in a jar to use as a topping for all sorts of dishes. The Vietnamese do that.
I have never tried canning onions myself, but they do look and sound yummy. One of my favorite things to can is sweet and sour pickles!
These sound good… I’m adding the recipe to my list of stuff I want to put up.
GREAT Post!!
I just found your blog and subscribed via RSS feed… it sounds like we have a lot of mutual interests.. check out my blog for some of my great cured meat/pickling recipes!
todd
I have been going crazy this year for pickled onions. I have tried a few recipes, and can’t wait to try this one.
Oooh! My grandmama used to make pickled onions and I just had a craving for them! I went looking for a recipe and I found you. I am going to try this this coming weekend. Thank you! Now, I am going through the rest of your site…love the recipes!