My Great Grandma’s Pickled Onions.

For those of you who don’t know my family well, One of the wonderful things you have been missing out on is the best pickled onions ever! Hands Down!

It’s a recipe passed down in my family from my great-grandmother.

Even as a child I thought these were the best. I don’t know that I would have eaten any other onion at the time but, these were no ordinary onions. We would eat them as a special treat with eggs on sunday mornings. I would take pain staking efforts to eat only one layer of the onion at a time… until I was down to the tiniest little layer of onion to savour before they were gone again for another week.

When I was young I remember we would have to sit outside on the front porch peeling a huge vat of onions for hours at a time. it seemed that there was a never-ending quantity of onions to be peeled. We were never truly forced to help with this chore but… were threatened that if we did not help peel onions we would not be allowed to eat any. A truly awful alternative. So my sister and I sat outside with my Papa, tears streaming down our faces, knives in hand, peeling onions for what seemed like a  very long time indeed.

But then something strange started to happen…  It became harder and harder every year to find the Silverskin onions that are required to make the famous recipe. Papa tried once or twice with other so-called “pearl onions” but the effect was never the same. So our stash of precious jars of pickled onions dwindled and we ate them less and less often. Eventually reserving them for special occasions only.  On celebrated days sometimes we would find a few small bags of silverskins at the grocery store, buy them all and make a small batch of magic with what we could find. It has been years since I have even seen any at all.

Untill……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I bought them all! Cost me like 40$

I texted my Papa this photo, “Send the Recipe” was all I typed.

So my roommate Christophe and I sat at the kitchen table chatting, crying and peeling onions. Then for the next week I carefully rinsed the onions and bathed them in salt and boiling water each night until it was time to put them in jars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now we wait for the Magic to happen! I got 6 big jars and one small one! I think its more than we’ve made in 10 or 15 years. It will have to be enough for now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next spring’s project… How to grow Silver skins? Any advice?

S.

September Chill

 

 

 

 

 

There is once again parking to be found in Lunenburg, the farmers market is brimming with local veggies and the weather is getting noticeably crisper. It can only mean one thing: Autumn is upon us in full force.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Its my favourite time of year in Nova Scotia.  The trees give us an amazing show before giving up their leaves for the winter.  The tourism softens but is still steady so work is just a bit more relaxed. We get to light the wood stove for the first time in months. The house is full of tomatoes and potatoes, there are screens everywhere drying seeds, hops, herbs, and other treasures…. and the bounty of the harvest is ready to but put in Jars for the seasons. Although I follow a small batch approach, putting food by all year long but, Fall is the season where I seem to do the most canning and preserving.

 

 

 

 

 

I love spending my weekends over the stove cooking up something I know will sustain us thru the long winter months. There is just nothing better than opening a jar of your own homegrown goodness when the ground is frozen and everything seems dead. A Jar of homemade pasta sauce gives one reassurance that spring will indeed come  around again. A jar of jam made from the summers ripest berries gives one hope that we will feel the sun on our bare skin once again.