3/31/2021 – Our Multiplying Onions and Bunching Onions in Mary’s Garden are bolting so we pickled some to for use when those are gone and the ones planted in the big garden with Piper and Olivia are still maturing. What we did, within an hour of pulling and washing them, was as follows:

• prepared the bulb end of enough onions to fill two wide-mouth quart jars;
• to one jar with onions and spices filled it with white vinegar. When the vinegar was poured out there were 2 cups. The recipe we were kinda following used vinegar to water ratio of 3:2. So, mixed 2-2/3 C of water in 4 C of vinegar with ¼ C of pickling salt;
• brought the water/vinegar/salt to a slow rolling boil;
• while it was heating up, put in each of the onion filled quart jars;
  • 5 peppercorns,
  • 5 allspice berries,
  • ½ tsp Cayenne Red Pepper Flakes—from our garden last year, and
  • 2 large cloves of garlic;
• poured the boiling mixture into the wide-mouth canning jars up to near the top of the shoulder;
• added ½ tsp of Crisping agent to each jar and;
• tightened the rings and lids and soon they sealed.

The jars were stored in the refrigerator to be eaten within a couple of months in salads. That is why we did not sterilize the jars and lids.

7/29/2021 – Opened the second jar and, like the first, the onions were tough or rubbery and impossible to bite through. The spice flavor was good but they were even hard to cut with a steak knife.