The best tips on how to prepare onions for the winter

To preserve onions longer and use them as a “quick” seasoning, the vegetable is prepared for the winter. The advantage of such a product is its simplicity, environmental friendliness and variety: pickled onions are added to salads or meat dishes, dried onions are combined with aromatic herbs.

You will learn how to properly dry, pickle and salt onions in the article.

How to prepare onions for the winter

The best harvesting methods:

• pickling;
• drying;
• pickling.

Some housewives freeze green feathers or ripe turnips, having previously cut them into rings or half rings.

Advice! This type of onion is used for preparing hot dishes: it acquires softness and characteristic aroma only after heat treatment. Thawed rings should not be stored or re-cooled.

Pickling

The laziest way is to pickle vegetables in regular 9% vinegar.. Spices are often added to marinades to improve the taste of the product.

It is advisable to immediately decide where the onion will be used.: vinegar and a little red pepper are added to the kebab version; for poultry and salads, the rings are marinated in balsamic vinegar to give them a piquant sweet and sour taste. To get a crispy and juicy preparation, cherry or currant leaves are added to the jar, as when pickling cucumbers.

General rules:

• turnips are blanched to remove excess bitterness;
• cut into rings, half rings or cubes;
• fold tightly into prepared containers (clean and dry);
• pour marinade;
• sterilized.

Small onions are pickled whole.

Drying

The options for such onion preparations are varied: it is dried in various devices and simply in the air, after washing and blotting with a paper towel.

Many housewives season the cuts with salt, and some dry them without spices and seasonings.. By mixing the finished product with other dried vegetables and herbs, you get a flavorful mix directly when creating dishes.

Reference! When drying indoors, turn on ventilation, since fresh vegetables release a concentrated pungent odor that can be absorbed into surrounding objects.

Pickling

For the winter green vegetable shoots are salted. They preserve the vitamin complex, color and taste as much as possible.

Choose only healthy and strong feathers without yellowness or signs of wilting, finely chop, mix with plenty of salt and compact tightly into jars.

Housewives less often practice salting small whole turnips.

Pickled onion recipes

Pickling a vegetable is not difficult, and there are many options for using it.

Rings

The secret of such onions, canned for the winter, is that the turnips are cut into thin rings. The thinner it is, the better the slices will marinate. The product is added to salads, kebabs, and herring.

Set of products for 1 liter of water:

• onion - 1 kg;
• 9% vinegar - 1 tbsp.;
• sugar - 2 tbsp. l.;
• salt - 1 tbsp. l.;
• bay leaf and peppercorns - to taste (add a little allspice or hot pepper if desired).

Preparation:

1. The turnips are cleaned, washed, cut into thin rings.
2. Place in clean, sterilized jars.
3. Pour boiling water over, cover with lids and let steep for 5 minutes.
4. Pour the onion water into a saucepan, add spices and vinegar, and bring to a boil.
5. Boil for 5 minutes until salt and sugar dissolve.
6. Pour the hot marinade over the onions, roll up the jars and place them in a warm place, turning them upside down.

Onions in tomato juice

Another option for preserving onions is suitable for first courses, meat and baked fish. It is also used as a sauce.

Product Set:

• onion - 1.5 kg;
• tomato juice - 0.5 l;
• fresh parsley - a bunch;
• vegetable oil - 2 tbsp. l.;
• spices, salt, sugar - to taste.

Cooking method:

1. Peeled onions are cut into rings, chopped parsley is added.
2. Stir, salt and leave for 40 minutes.
3. Prepare tomato sauce: heat vegetable oil in a frying pan, pour in tomato juice, add salt and sugar, favorite spices, simmer for 5-7 minutes.
4. The finished hot filling is poured into a container with onions and parsley, mixed and placed in sterilized jars. They are corked.

This preparation is stored for 2-3 months.

Whole heads

When choosing whole turnips for pickling, make sure that they are undamaged and approximately the same size. Sevok is suitable for canning for the winter.

Classic recipe

Ingredients for 1 liter of water:

• bulbs - 1–1.5 kg;
• coarse salt - 120 g;
• vinegar - 1-2 tbsp. l.;
• sugar - 1 tsp;
• bay leaf, peppercorns, allspice, any greens - to taste.

How to cook:

1. The bulbs are cleaned and washed.
2. Boil water, salt it, immerse vegetables in it for 2-3 minutes.
3. The turnips are removed and placed in cold water. The brine is not poured out.
4. Place bay leaves, peppers, and herbs into prepared jars. The bulbs are compacted tightly.
5. Sugar and vinegar are added to the liquid in which the turnips were boiled and boiled.
6. Boiling marinade is poured over vegetables in jars, covered, and allowed to brew.
7. Pour the marinade back into the pan and boil again.
8. Pour the marinade over the onions again, seal the jars, turn them over, and wrap them.

Take note:

How to squeeze juice out of onions without shedding tears

Onion juice nasal drops

"Pearl" onion

Ingredients:

• small onions - 1–1.2 kg;
• water - 1 l;
• 6% vinegar - 250 ml;
• sugar - 4 tbsp. l.;
• salt - 1 tbsp. l. + 2 tbsp. l. for soaking;
• cinnamon - 2 sticks;
• bay leaf, allspice, hot pepper and peas, cloves - to taste.

Preparation:

1. Peeled onions are soaked in cool water with added salt for an hour.
2. Take it out and let the liquid drain.
3. Spices are placed in prepared jars, and onions are placed there.
4. Vegetables are poured with boiling water and allowed to stand.
5. Prepare a marinade separately from water, salt, sugar, and vinegar.
6. Instead of water, marinade is poured into jars.
7. The containers are closed and sent to a warm place.

"Three colors"

Canning onions according to this recipe is simple, and the preparation turns out tasty and bright.

Ingredients:

• onion - 0.5–0.7 kg;
• red beets - 1 pc.;
• turmeric - 1 tsp;
• vinegar - 1 tbsp. l.;
• water - 120 ml;
• salt, sugar, sunflower oil - to taste;
• ground black pepper - optional.

How to cook:

1. The onions are cut into rings or half rings and doused with boiling water.
2. To prepare the marinade, pour salt, sugar, vinegar, a little sunflower oil, and ground black pepper into cold water.
3. Place 1/3 of the onion slices into 3 prepared jars: one is filled with marinade (this will be the white version), thin slices of beets are added to the second, then filled (pink), turmeric is poured into the third, and marinade is poured (yellow).

Honey feathers

This version of pickled vegetables is suitable for meat dishes.

Ingredients:

• onion feathers - 1.5 kg;
• water - 0.3 l;
• wine (white dry) - 0.3 l;
• honey (liquid) - 50 g;
• salt - 0.5 tsp;
• thyme - 2 sprigs.

Preparation:

1. Pour water and wine into the pan, add salt and honey, stir until smooth, boil for 5-7 minutes.
2. Feathers and thyme are placed tightly into the prepared container.
3. The jars are filled with marinade, sterilized for 10 minutes, and rolled up.

How to dry onions for the winter

A properly dried vegetable will saturate the body in winter. vitamins A, B1, C, iodine, potassium, phosphorus, fiber, essential oils. Dishes made with it are aromatic and have a special taste.

Reference! Onions in this form contain a lot of carbohydrates, their calorie content is 208 kcal per 100 g.

To ensure uniform drying, turnips are chopped evenly. The shape does not matter, the thickness of the slice is important - no more than 5 mm.

In the oven

Use an electric or gas oven. Drying time: more than 5 hours:

1. Place the slices on baking sheets lined with paper in an even layer.
2. The baking sheets are placed in a preheated oven.
3. The door is left ajar a few centimeters.
4. Stir the onions periodically.

In an electric dryer

One of the main advantages of this method: the turnips do not have to be finely chopped.

Hot air effectively dries large slices:

1. Randomly chopped vegetables are placed on the grill.
2. The thermostat is set to +55…+60°C.
3. To ensure uniform drying, the trays are periodically swapped.

The procedure takes from 5 to 7 hours.

Outdoors

This is the longest drying: it takes 10–14 days. The time and quality of the finished product largely depend on weather conditions and the chosen location:

1. Choose a shaded and well-ventilated place, ideally under a canopy, so as not to hide the vegetables in the rain.In this case, air humidity during and after rain is taken into account: it prevents proper drying.
2. The chopped onions are laid out in an even layer on baking sheets, cardboard, sheets of white paper, or any flat surfaces covered with cotton cloth or paper.
3. As they dry, the slices are stirred periodically to provide everyone with access to fresh air.

other methods

High quality and onions dry quickly in an air fryer. Here it takes 1 hour. Green feathers are ready in 30 minutes.

The device is turned on at maximum speed, setting the temperature to +70°C.

Read also:

How to make pickled leeks

Medicinal properties of baked onions

Pickling recipes

For this use feathers and salt themselves. Pepper, other herbs and spices are added for piquancy.

Simple pickling

Take 1 kg of crushed feathers and 100 g of coarse salt. The ingredients are mixed and placed tightly in a clean container. Sprinkle a layer of salt on top.

Reference! To remove the bitterness from the feathers, they are doused with boiling water.

Pickling with herbs

For the mix you will need:

• onion feathers - 0.5 kg;
• cilantro - 0.5 kg;
• dill - 0.4 kg;
• parsley - 0.3 kg;
• salt - 0.2 kg.

Preparation:

1. The greens are sorted, washed, cut.
2. Immerse in salted water for 10 minutes.
3. Allow the liquid to drain and dry everything.
4. The greens are mixed with salt and compacted into jars.

Useful tips

For marinating, use not only vinegar, but also lemon, mustard, and soy sauce.. Each of these ingredients gives the product a completely different taste.

When drying onions in the fresh air, make sure that it did not become covered with mold - small black dots. This happens if the vegetable is left outside on a cool night or if it becomes saturated with moisture from the air after rain.

To get rid of bitterness, use the following methods:

• pour boiling water over the vegetables - a small part of the bitterness will come out;
• pour chopped turnips with water for 2 minutes;
• Blanch - this way the onion will lose its bitterness completely.

Conclusion

Preparing onions for the winter is not difficult: they are pickled, salted and dried. A tasty and healthy product complements meat, fish dishes, and salads. Dried slices are used as an aromatic seasoning and mixed with other vegetables and herbs. Such blanks take up little storage space and are kept in a cool, dark room.