RECIPE NOTES: PICKLED ONIONS

I got 10 bunches of little onions on Wednesday at the SMFM. The next day Claire and I went for a hike, and she said out of the blue: "I know what I want you to pickle next—onions." Then this morning Beatrice said her favorite pickles are onions. What do you know? The 10 bunches made three pints of pickles which I just took out of the hot-water bath. One for each of us.

I've put up several batches of onions already, but for this one I'm trying to refine the flavor. Although it seems extravagant, I used Champagne vinegar. I haven't been able to find a white wine vinegar I love, I didn't want the color imparted by red wine, sherry or malt vinegars and for this batch I didn't want cider vinegar's flavor, either. The Champagne vinegar isn't exactly neutral—you actually get a passing sense of the chalk-and-chardonnay taste that characterizes the wine—but it's mild and pleasant.

Here, for record-keeping purposes, are the aromatics I used along with the Ball canning technique. Anyone else reading this should consider the below an unproven recipe. I'll update with tasting notes once the pickles have sat for several weeks.

PICKLED ONIONS—recipe notes for 3 pints onions

3 cups Vilux brand vinaigre de Reims

2 tablespoons sugar

1 3'' chile de arbol

3 Mediterranean bay leaves

6 all-spice berries

3 whole cloves

15 whole peppercorns

1/2 teaspoon whole brown mustard seeds

a few cardamon seeds (less than a whole pod)

Follow the procedures from Ball, except I did two changes of brine because of the onions' size. Process in a hot-water bath for 10 minutes.

YIELD

10 bunches onions yielded 3 pints