Recipe Corner: Red Onion Pickles

We have a recipe for quick-pickled red onions that we like a lot.  I'm adding it here in case the website that hosts it goes poof.  Also, the website that hosts it is kind of annoying, with pop-ups and ads and huge walls of other stuff before you get to the actual recipe.  It does have interesting recommendations and variations and discussions and what-not, so it's not useless, but it's not what I need when I just wanna make a quick batch of red onion pickles.

Of course, there are zillions of recipes and websites with recipes for quick-pickled red onions!  But we know that we like this one, so it has become the House Recipe.  The website with the recipe is here: https://carlsbadcravings.com/pickled-red-onions/

And here it is, in my own words and with my own commentary:

Red Onion Pickles (aka quick pickled red onions)

1 red onion.  This should be thinly sliced crosswise (i.e. as if for use on hamburgers).  I usually cut it in half before slicing rings, to make half-moons instead of full rings.  But that's mostly for better control.  Thin means whatever you want it to mean.  The original recipe recommends 1/8" to 1/4", with the thicker ones taking longer to absorb the pickling liquid.  I don't really measure, but my guess is that we usually do 1/8" or thinner.

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar.  We use plain old grocery store cider vinegar.

1/4 cup red wine vinegar.  The cheap brand from the grocery store actually tastes better in this recipe than more expensive and higher-quality red wine vinegars.

1/4 cup water

1.5 tablespoons sugar

1.5 teaspoons salt.  We usually use table salt (i.e., not kosher salt or other salts that have very different weights per volume).  I don't think it matters if you're using iodized, non-iodized, fine sea salt, etc.

The red onions we usually find around here are very large, so I usually double the recipe amounts for the liquid.  In other words, the total pickling liquid is 2 cups rather than 1 cup.

Put the onion slices in a container (I usually separate out the rings).

Heat the liquid to a simmer, so that the sugar dissolves.  I don't know how important it is to bring the liquid to a high temperature or if the only purpose is to dissolve the sugar.  We usually do this on the stove, but a microwave ought to work, too.

Pour the liquid over the onions.  Let it cool to room temperature (or wait about 30 minutes or so), then cover and refrigerate.

You can eat it right away (after the 30 minutes of cooling) or wait.  The recipe website says it'll be better after a few hours, which is usually when we get to it.  It'll last in the refrigerator for quite a while, definitely on the order of several weeks to a few months.

The website suggests that you can reuse the pickling liquid if it's been less than 3 weeks since you mixed it.   The one time we tried, the stuff we added went bad.  Dunno if the liquid wasn't acid enough after the onions had soaked in it or if it had been longer than 3 weeks or what.  Perhaps it would have worked better if we had re-boiled the pickling liquid to kill any germs in the liquid and/or the new veggies.

Although I'm sure there are many fine variations, the above is so good that we've never had the desire to explore.  Friends tend to like it a lot, too.