Every way of making pink pickled onions, the greatest condiment

Thanks to HelloFresh for sponsoring this video! For 16 free meals with HelloFresh across 7 boxes AND 3 free gifts, use code ADAMRAGUSEA16: bit.ly/3H8Rbgh
My old video about anthocyanins (which make onions pink): • Why food is blue (or u...
My two favorite methods for pink pickled onions, based on the experiments in this video:
FAST: Slice a red onion into thin wedges from tip to root. Dump them in boiling water for 10 seconds, drain the hot water, then cover them all the way up with room temperature vinegar plus a little lime juice (and maybe some water if you like them less tart), a pinch of salt, a handful of sugar, and maybe a few spices. Let cool and then keep in the fridge for a week or two. They're pickles as soon as they cool down.
SLOW: Slice a red onion into thin wedges from tip to root. Cover them about 2/3rds of the way up with room temperature vinegar plus a little lime juice (and maybe some water if you like them less tart), a pinch of salt, a handful of sugar, and maybe a few spices. Throw them in the fridge and stir once or twice over the next few hours. They'll be pickles in about a day. Keep in the fridge for a week or two.

[@magmanaught4532]

Adam Ragusea and Ethan Chlebowski can at least agree that pickling onions is always a good idea

[@MrTheSmoon]

i feel like ethan and adam would agree on more than just that

[@LelouDX]

@@MrTheSmoon They'll most likely vibe over Mexican food. Both of them seem to like Mexican food

[@patrick4662]

they'll find a way to get into the details and disagree lol. When an academic meets a consulting bro god kills a kitten.

[@magmanaught4532]

@@MrTheSmoon oh yah obviously I’m just referencing the small thing where Ethan made a video responding to Adam’s deep frying video, and the two fanbases kinda blew up at each other

[@flashfive23]

@@MrTheSmoon they would literally disagree on every single other topic

[@JustBilly123]

picked onions

[@sebastianlopez9433]

Picked onions

[@raon7923]

Picked Onions

[@DeanCalhoun]

picked onions

[@jayfrompluto]

picked onions

[@Someone-ry1nh]

Picked onions

[@casey6556]

“White distilled vinegar, more often used as a cleaning product than as a food” That’s definitely something I notice as a Canadian when in the States. Here white vinegar is quite common as a condiment, especially for things like fries. The first time my mother tried getting fries with non-malt vinegar in the US, she was deeply confused by the fact that when she asked for “not malt, just clear white vinegar” the server responded “… the stuff we clean the floors with? You want to *eat* that?”

[@ultru3525]

I get a similar feeling whenever a recipe calls for baking soda. It makes sense though, both cooking and cleaning can be seen as applied chemistry, so of course acids and bases are essential to both, and vinegar and baking soda are cheap, easy ways to decrease or increase pH levels respectively.

[@candice_green]

Yeah... a lot of restaurants in the US, even of the sit-down variety, simply don't have any white vinegar at all. Since moving here, I actually considered buying a box of vinegar packets at one point so that I could stash some in my purse. It makes no sense to me that Americans have salt and vinegar chips, but use ketchup on their fries, yet think ketchup chips and vinegar on fries seem bizarre.

[@SimuLord]

I had that same thought; I have a bottle of white vinegar at home, but it's purely used as a degreaser for my glass cooktop, not as any kind of food.

[@blackenedfeatherz9503]

That last statement is weird to me even as someone from the us 😭

[@cleanerben9636]

Why the hell would you clean floors with vinegar? America is such a backwards place.

[@shawaam]

It's amazing how Adam seem to answer every question possible without having to be asked. All I was thinking after all that boiling of vinegar was if that didn't smell awful and lo and behold, he answered that too.

[@TheModdedwarfare3]

Adam is very good at creating content for a real audience. He doesnt just put something out there.

[@ultru3525]

It's probably a familiar smell for anyone who's ever had to descale a water kettle. It reeks, but it's one of the fastest, cheapest and safest way to remove limescale buildup.

[@themastermason1]

I did the boiling vinegar version once long before I saw this video. My parents were wondering what the hell was going on when they smelled the vinegar fumes permeating the house.

[@Strasedon]

@@ultru3525 I prefer citric acid for descaling. No vinegar smell and for coffee makers it seems like it doesn't need as much flushing to remove the excess. It's also recommended by the manufacturer of my dishwasher for cleaning the tub and is a lot less expensive than the prepackaged cleaners.

[@ultru3525]

@@Strasedon Never tried it, but no doubt it can work just as well, though I imagine it’s not quite as cheap as vinegar.

[@washinthewind]

FWIW, as someone who made a living making pickles for almost 5 years, the amount of spices in that container is probably enough for 1-2 onions worth of pickles. If Adam used 1/2 an onion, I can see why it would be so "spiced."

[@bertaboy9078]

Folga wooga imoga womp

[@IronManhood]

@@bertaboy9078 ok

[@dankerbooper741]

@@bertaboy9078 laga ooger loap

[@socksbysil]

pickle salesman

[@Theo-oh3jk]

Do you know where I can find pickled vegetables in US markets? I discovered them and really like them, but I can never seem to find anything besides pickled cucumber.

[@caelandemaziere7939]

Hey Adam, a video i'd be interested in seeing is one similar to your dough one, but with mashed potatoes. Just looking at how much, if any, milk, cream, eggs, butter... to add and what it does to the mashed potatoes. Cheers

[@krankarvolund7771]

That could be a great idea ^^ One of the recipes I would like him to try is Joel Robuchon's mashed potatoes, he's a great french chef, famous for a recipe of mashed where he use a lot of butter, like almost a quarter of the potatoes XD

[@aragusea]

On the list!

[@jacobgentile3351]

My mother swears by cream cheese in hers

[@mooltz]

Eggs? Is that really something people do?

[@sTarT4231]

my mom always puts mayo in hers but i don't think i'm a fan

[@Viigan]

I'll eat anything pickled. Whenever I can see that I won't be able to eat a vegetable before it goes bad, I pickle it. This led, among other things, to the discovery that celery slices make surprisingly good pickles. Many years ago I pickled a giant jar of green tomatoes with vanilla, put them on a shelf in the shed so they could mature, and forgot about them. I found them seven years later, and it was one of the best (pickled) things I ever tasted. I ate the full jar in less than a week - and only later found out that green tomatoes contain solanine and you should be careful how many you eat of them a day. Luckily I survived without so much as a stomach ache.

[@soylentgreenb]

Standard recipe here for anything pickled is 1:2:3 ratio of 12% vinegar, sugar and water. This is *way* too sweet; but it's an old recipe from back before refrigeration that just kind of stuck. Adding a crap-ton of sugar reduces water activity and inhibits the growth of mold and bacteria quite effectively; but it just makes pickled onion taste like "onion marmalade" and that's awful.

[@rayf6126]

The solanide compound might have been destroyed by the pickling process. Why vanilla with the tomatoes?

[@JBergmansson]

@@soylentgreenb You probably meant 1:2:3 for sugar:vinegar:water, right?

[@Viigan]

You may be right about the solanine; a quick googling shows that (some claim that) fermentation breaks down solanine and that solanine in potatoes can be neutralised with vinegar, so the same should apply for green tomatoes. The vanilla was only for taste, as I remembered that my mother had once served green tomatoes pickled with vinegar, sugar and vanilla. I was slightly disappointed in the taste of mine a couple of days after I had made them (which is probably why I forgot about them for so long), but when I "found" them again... wow.

[@brucetidwell7715]

7 years??! In a Shed??! OMG! Here in Atlanta where it gets up to 95-100f *outside* of the shed in the summer, even one year would turn them to green slime.

[@nadiavandyne694]

Gotta say, my favorite way to pickle onions is also probably the easiest: 1. Buy a jar of bread and butter pickles 2. Eat the pickles 3. Slice a bunch of red onions and add them to the brine you didn't have to make 4. Wait a day or two 5. Enjoy delicious pink b&b onions This works especially well if you haven't quite finished the purchased pickles because then you don't have a couple days without pickles. You can do this with just about any veggie and type of pickle brine, just be sure to slice whatever raw veg pretty thinly.

[@whybrch]

that's a great idea!

[@sixstringedthing]

If you're a a fan of dill pickles/Polski ogorki, that leftover brine also works great for onion, carrots, lebanese cucumber, etc. Only if you like the strong flavour of dill weed though.

[@stevethea5250]

whats bread and butter pickles ?

[@StormTrackerWV]

THAT is absolutely brilliant!!! 😊😊😊

[@mirnasimmi4901]

​@stevethea5250 pickles that have a bread and butter flavor. Sweet pickles basically.

[@MarkoTroter]

Advice for all non-Americans here, check how acidic your vinegar is. I made this mistake when trying Ethan Chlebowski's version (heinz vinegar - ~5% acid); didn't check that i have been using vinegar twice as strong.

[@Biithill]

This is actually very good point. Here where I live our "cheap vinegar" is 10% so its way too strong for these pickled onions at undiluted. I know because I made that same mistake.

[@Nitsirtriscuit]

“Don’t cut the onion straight! It’ll get pungent!” Me, an onion lover: “yes that is the purpose of the onion”

[@corwinchapman4565]

I had the same thought, I want to be hit in the head with a brick by my pickles and onions and pickled onions.

[@Memu_]

@@dark_wyvern8880 Shut up

[@africanwarlord4283]

yes officer, this post right here

[@eXJonSnow]

Exactly! When I put onions on a burger, I want to taste and smell some damn onions

[@turquoise7817]

@@eXJonSnow for a burger that's what you'd want, yes, but if you cut them straight for pickling (or any use where they'll be sitting for a while), they'll actually lose more pungency compared to cutting them the other way. obviously as adam's shown, for pickling it doesn't matter much in the end, but if you don't cut them straight, you instead will get that pungency when you bite into the onions, instead of it being lost into the air. probably.

[@johanflorin4430]

When it comes to pickles, my Indian wife's family has introduced me to what might now be my favourite condiment - achar! They describe homemade achar as being "pickled" in oil and a binch of indian spices, and left out in the sun. I suspect there's some fermentation going on because of this, and it's frickin delicious. I would love to see a video on achar from you at somem point; you always have interesting stuff to add on these topics :) Love from Sweden!

[@ArashiinStormdragon]

Adam, be careful about reusing pickling solutions that you made pickles in before. The osmotic action of salt and sugar will gradually raise the pH as water comes out of new vegetables or fruit, and increase the likelihood of creating an environment that’s hospitable to mold and yeasts. I made a batch of umeboshi with a standard salt and citric acid quantity, and used some of the rendered juices to start a new batch, bottling some of the leftover juice. After bottling the juice from the second batch, I left both bottles in my cupboard for a few weeks before checking on them. The first bottle was still clean and clear, but the second bottle had blue mold and cloudy strings of bacteria growing in it. Consider pointing this out in your podcast this weekend, please.

[@nerdcave0]

Thanks, I always wondered about this. The pickling solution gets weaker and more diluted with each use too.

[@xarcaz]

You can always use a pH meter to check the acidity and add distilled vinegar to compensate for the dilution. As for the salt and sugar, you can always give it a taste and add more according to taste.

[@MegaRobboz]

that's a good tip for anyone thinking about doing so but he specifically points out at the start of the video to not put these anywhere else than the fridge. Seems redundant to point it out again.

[@evertime123]

Again store in fridge, not in the ideal environments for mold growth

[@senormoll]

Anyone doing things at room temperature like this should be weighing their ingredients too so that they know their exact salinity. If you do 2% salt by weight for example then all you have to do is add 2% salt for the new fresh ingredients as well. Osmosis isn't a factor in that case since everything is uniform, and any pH below 4.5 is food safe (which, if your pickles are >4.5...you'd know, but a pH meter is always nice)

[@acommenter4252]

My dad used to do this in little bowls, he would stick a beet, some vinegar, and slices. Sit for like a few hours. They would be cool and pink and go with anything. Pickled onions are awesome, so versatile and tasty.

[@im_a-walking_shitpost_machine]

i wish i had a dad

[@csgas0]

@@im_a-walking_shitpost_machine i wish u had a dad

[@SimuLord]

@@im_a-walking_shitpost_machine A punk kid got pulled over and said to the cop "Do you know who my father is?" The cop shot back, "Does your mom?"

[@84Tacos]

I love pickled beets as well

[@fameless0]

@@im_a-walking_shitpost_machine i wish I had pickled onions

[@jmcmonster]

I have been making these for about the last decade. I have also experimented with many of the techniques, but personally landed on the 50/50 water to vinegar ratio. I heat it up with some salt, whole peppercorns, and mustard seeds. I do let it cool a bit before pouring over the onions to at least preserve some of the texture. I also like to add a tiny bit of beet juice after things have cooled or even brine from some pickled beets. Really amps up the color and adds a touch of earthiness. It’s hard to go wrong, though. Just give them a shot!

[@stam7250]

Seems like the best idea is to do a lil bit of every technique.

[@walnutsandbeastiality866]

Pepper? _,,Porsche Cayenne. _*_Like the peppa."_* (Carmela Soprano showing off her Porsche Cayenne to Ginny Sac, The Sopranos, 1999)

[@user-rn3rn6nl3h]

Red peppercorns are another option to enhance the color, I'm going to try your idea with beets. Thanks.

[@amastercuber3738]

this one sounds SO GOOD thank you for sharing I'm definitely gonna try this :)

[@tomimantyla8236]

I also made these, and boy they were acidic! But I used 10% white vinegar, and now noticed that Adam had 5% vinegar. I guess I have to dilute it next time.

[@Natu-hari]

Worth pointing out that the vinegar you're using is at a 5% concentration. Here in Northern Europe vinegar is often sold at 9-10% strength, in which case using half water is probably recommended.

[@Skeptic2006]

The reason I came here. Used 10% vinegar with the 50/50 vinegar/water ratio and after rinsing them a bit added them to noodles. Way too strong and started to experience digestive discomfort immediately. Should be kinda obvious to check the concentration first but hey now I know. I will be using 1/5 ratio for now on or even less so I can skip the rinsing part.

[@a-bird-lover]

from what I remember too, be careful of 4% vinegar because it's not as certain to kill off any microorganisms, and it's flat out unsafe for canning or fermentation

[@Skeptic2006]

@@a-bird-lover Yeah this recipe is just for taste and not preservation.

[@a-bird-lover]

@@Skeptic2006 I know, just adding the warning.

[@a-bird-lover]

he did also add that the acidity should kill off any ick (though fermentation wasn't recommended like this) and you could keep it for a couple weeks pretty safely, where in 4% that might not be the case and it's worth watching out for

[@LARKXHIN]

Love the idea that Lauren learned cooking from Hello Fresh and not her husband's youtube channel.

[@atuskaMleinaD]

THIS. My wife is the *exact* same. Initially, I was the home chef. Then, after she got seriously into Hello Fresh, she started experimenting and now she switches to a new ethnic cuisine every few months. Now she can re-make just about anything she's done from memory. She surpassed my meager culinary skill a few years back; I couldn't be a happier loser. 😋🤤😁

[@FlorianLautenschlagerdocop]

What are the odds of this being uploaded literally while I'm typing "Adam Ragusea pickled onions" into the search bar? Great timing, Adam!

[@umbertlambert2113]

YOU LIE!!

[@treyhudson73]

Are you a wizard!?

[@user-ze7sj4qy6q]

depends if you heard on the podcast that mondays video would b this and knew his upload time lol, if that then yeah p high otherwise 🤯

[@LARKXHIN]

Type Adam Ragusea tofu next please

[@unteren_text5425]

The odds are zero because that didn't happen

[@TheSlavChef]

I love pickled onions! Maybe the best condiment to ever exist. Also onions are unable to store water inside them because there is always a leek.

[@williamvouk2911]

*picked onions

[@blablup1214]

How do you eat them ? Never heared of pickled onions. I know pickled cucumbers , but pickled onions ? Do you eat them as they are as a snack ? Or are you just putting them on stuff ?

[@TheSlavChef]

@@blablup1214 My bad, I eat only picked ones.

[@TheSlavChef]

@@williamvouk2911 my bad comrade, my bad.

[@hinotefanatic]

Bah dum tiss! 😂

[@JoshStLouis314]

White onions and half beet juice/vinegar is my go-to, the beets add a hint of earthy flavor that pairs with the bite of the onion, plus they turn a deeper shade of pink to eventually almost purple.

[@JackBlackNinja]

thanks for this tip!

[@wamlartmuse]

Lol I was thinking about that the whole time. Gotta be the spiced beets right?

[@aiaioioi]

EARTHY?...do you peel your beets?

[@squiddies6896]

@@aiaioioi they taste earthy tho

[@jafizzle95]

Homemade pickles (from the garden preferably) are one of those grab-a-fork-and-stand-in-the-fridge type snacks. We made a lot of pickles growing up. Cucumbers and onions go well together in the same pickle.

[@sabatino1977]

His tip at the end is really good. This year I had a bunch of cukes all at once in the garden and I took a jar of pickles that was empty of pickles but full of liquid, and just cut up the fresh cukes into the liquid. In a day or two you’ve got this kind of hybrid between a pickled cucumber (a “pickle”) and a fresh one. Still retains a bunch of crunch but also starts to take in the flavors of the pickle juice.

[@Elazul2k]

I've never actually done this with vinegar before. I've always used lime juice, but I mainly use them for tacos or nachos. I also don't just do onions but serrano chilis with salt. They're really good.

[@joylox]

I made pink pickled carrots... But that was because I bought a packet of rainbow carrots and one variety has a pink skin that leeches colour onto the white ones. I did them the traditional canning method as I wanted to preserve them for using in sushi and tacos year round (I did a few flavours). These ones are really good on falafels, and now I want to make some. All my onions I grew were super tiny, so it would work fine for a couple servings.

[@RunninUpThatHillh]

You could also do fermented carrots (healthier). I did my pathetic tiny carrots we grew last year😂😂 they taste so good and last up to a year afaik.

[@ThisThingGoesFaster]

Tremendous video about a tremendous food. My sister in law was the first person I saw quick-pickle onions a few years ago, for tacos, and I was in love with the pickled onion forever more. I've made it cold and hot, and I always have a jar in the fridge ready for any meal (a tremendous addition to a breakfast sandwich), but I never had the patience to figure out which was better or why, because any pink pickled onion was better than no pickled onion. In small but very tangible ways, this channel makes life a little better, and a little more tasty. Great stuff.

[@hrydgard]

Great experiment! Just missing a little note about the acetic acid concentration in the white vinegar you are using, I'm guessing 4-5% - from an international perspective, the "default" white vinegar you can buy here in Sweden (called ättika) has a 24% acetic acid concentration, which requires some care with the measurements!

[@ChopSuck]

This is a very good point and he doesn't mention it at all. At 3:45 it looks like he is using 5% as you suggested. My local has about 5 different types with varying levels.

[@FaerieDust]

Yes, this! Confusing vinegar and ättika is a mistake you only make once, that's for sure 😅

Great point. In Hungary we have mostly 10% and 20% concentrations, I use the former in food, and the latter to clean my coffee pot, it removes limescale like a charm :D

[@helkalantto7534]

This is what I was thinking as well. The stuff that I'd think of as my local version of distilled white vinegar (väkiviinaetikka or spritättika) has 10% acetic acid concentration. It's interesting what sort of things we take as given so that it doesn't really even occur to us that things could be different -- such as the acid concentration in distilled vinegar.

[@rayf6126]

In the US almost all vinegar sold as food grade is 5%. There really is no variety except for cleaning vinegar which is usually 15% to 20%.

[@seanirby8838]

Mr. Ragusea's recipes for refrigerator pickles convinced me to make my own. I used to home-can pickles when I lived out in the sticks, but now I have the luxury of refrigeration and love all the different kinds of pickled vegetables that are possible with just a few basic ingredients and a day or two of patience.

[@rileywebb4178]

Next do a caramelized onion shootout! I'm fondest of the method using high heat and frequent stirring, and deglazing when the frond is close to burning. It's the fastest method without adjusting pH (which may lead to mushiness) but it is definitely hands-on and most home cooks don't seem to use high heat like cooks do.

[@tinkersdinkers]

god i love how straight to the point you are, never fails to make me happy even after years

[@FineAndAndy]

It would be an interesting follow-up experiment to keep making pickled onions with the leftover brine from the previous batch over and over, measuring the ph each time (and tasting each time) to see the difference over time. How many times can the liquid be reused safely?

[@jameshaulenbeek5931]

Yeah, if you're not doing a lactic fermented pickle, you really shouldn't reuse it for very long. But that's the beauty of lactic fermentation - you can keep it going almost indefinitely. For that you need a specific % of salt by weight, but it's different depending on what veggie you're using.

[@__lasevix_]

Until bacteria start producing unwanted chemicals, so between once and a few weeks' worth

[@Arikayx13]

I use left over pickle juice for this, I’ve tried doing multiple runs but it’s too watery/thin by run 3 to work well without adding more vinegar.

[@garethbaus5471]

@@Dessun if a hot brine process is used you should be able to effectively restart that clock every time you make the pickles since you have an almost sterile brine at the start of every batch, which makes the number of times you can do this effectively limited by the rising pH of the vinegar with every batch.

[@williamboshi1855]

@@garethbaus5471 you can kill bacteria but some bacteria emits toxic waste(toxins ? idk) that can't be killed with heat and idk if those can accumulate with each batches

[@Blue3lephant]

Something I didn't see you mention (and I actually learned from a hello fresh recipe), but for a quick pickling solution you can submerge the onions in the acid and microwave it for 30 seconds. Did this with radishes and it worked surprisingly well.

[@georgeprout42]

Yeah, definitely not "every way" of making them. I was hoping for the chamber vacuum machine method, but I guess not many people have one. My OH watched as the bowl of onions/vinegar/salt boiled. When the lid popped open she passed me an oven glove. Grinning, I put my finger in to the cold bowl. Physics. Now I'm going to have to compare how boiling with heat and boiling by vacuum affects the texture...

[@greenylee1]

@@georgeprout42 what does "OH" stand for?

[@thunderbob20]

@@greenylee1 other half?

[@petemitchell5428]

@@greenylee1 OppenHeimer

[@greenylee1]

@@thunderbob20 I figured, but I don't remember anyone asking for my input on "OH" being short for "Other Half"...I don't approve. (I'm joking in case it's not clear, lol)

[@zarblitz]

I appreciate the no BS videos. Summarizing the findings right at the start is very welcome. I'm still going to watch the rest because I love pickled onions and I'm interested, but glad to know there's no better way than I already do it. "We don't eat these pickles on their own" - speak for yourself!

[@holmd90]

I wouldn't say I eat them on their own, but I add enough to any dish that you might as well consider them to be the main ingredient

[@zarblitz]

@@holmd90 Yeah you can't really make a meal of them on their own, but that doesn't mean I won't snack on them by themselves.

[@Ucceah]

dont forget about the OG pickling method, lactic acid fermentation! it gives the onions a destinct and very savoury taste, with a lot of umami, and a strong but appetizing sulfurous lovestank. it's not a quick method, but a lovely little project with addictive results! and supposedly incredibly healthy too.

[@viever9158]

Thanks so much Adam! I literally just bought the ingredients to make pickled onions and planned to make them tonight! I’ll definitely be using this video.

[@gutmicrobiomequeen]

💙 Added bonus, both the onions AND the vinegar are fantastic for your gut microbiome 🥰

[@nunya___]

You are the perfect food educator. You always answer all the questions, explain the chemistry/science and test the logical things. THANK YOU.

[@monocore]

Came back to your channel after a hiatus. Your content really got that much entertaining, awesome job Adam.

[@McFlingleson]

"Imagine the onion as a globe, with the blossom and root end representing the North and South Poles." Adam has an interesting way of looking at things sometimes.

[@0ThrowawayAccount0]

It is literally called a "globular cut" in cooking books.

[@emartinez5350]

The way we usually do it around the household is lime juice, oregano and habanero. It works great ! It’s herbaceous, spicy and lemony ! You should try it Adam it’s delicious !

[@Magmafrost13]

I've been doing my picked onions alongside pickled red cabbage recently. I use them both for the same thing, I like them both, so I figured I might as well just mix them together. Gives an even more vibrant colour, too.

[@hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm2369]

The other day made fridge marinated mushrooms with water, rice vinegar, ginger, garlic, and anise seeds. Using the leftover liquid as a soup base made the tastiest soup I ever had.

[@mattwilson8298]

Adam: Literally teaches people how to cook. Lauren: Learned to cook from a box

[@aniyn]

Tell me you fight with your wife in the kitchen, without saying you fight with your wife in the kitchen.

[@LiaBee1993]

if you want bright pink ones, add some shreds of red cabbage! that's what I do and it's very pretty, plus the pickled cabbage is actually really good too (although I'm sure you could just use cabbage/beet puree or something too)

[@godofannoyance]

Fantastic video, thanks for making it, honestly. I really enjoyed the flow of the experiment to the associated facts and back and forth during the steps of it all. Your takes on crunchy-ness and flavor were good too, will keep in mind when I try some variations myself!

[@Spafinky]

I love the nod (may be unintentional) to Alton Brown's show Good Eats, with that Kosher salt container. My dad is a huge Alton fan, and I grew up watching that show. Great episode, by the way! As usual!

[@anna-ti2bo]

This is perfect because for the past month I've been eating these every day, i'm obsessed they make everything taste even better. i've made them with rice vinegar 1:1 with water and a few tbsp sugar, i've also put thinly sliced cucumber and radish in which works great as well. i'm for sure trying only filling them halfway. Pickled onion worship!!

[@jakmanxyom]

1:45 I cut my onions like that while making onion fritters - didn't know the direction would affect how pungent the slices would be. Coincidentally, that pungency is kind of the 'essence' that I want to flavour my fritters - I immediately soak the slices in slightly salted cold water to extract it more into the liquid that I'd add to the batter later...

[@shepardice3775]

On your point about slicing lengthwise instead of across: Ethan Chlebowski did an experiment specifically on picked onions with both techniques and found that the slices across the onion created mushier/slimier pickled onions.

[@AkhierDragonheart]

Guess I don't have to make this comment as it already is here.

[@alexanderdeburdegala4609]

Thanks for being so comprehensive, I need to try some of these.

[@auxchar]

"It's not like the olden days, where you had to pickle everything that you grew right before the winter, these you can make in small batches, it's fine." That's still a very useful way of doing things for rural homesteaders. Believe it or not, there are still places in the US where there isn't just a grocery store a couple miles away.

[@SunnyMorningPancakes]

I think maybe he was leaning more towards the fact that people have home refrigeration now, whereas historically (dependent on area) that refrigeration was only seasonally available, and fresh produce would probably have been spoiled before the weather became cold enough for longer storage?

[@auxchar]

@@SunnyMorningPancakes Yeah, that's true for most people, however, when you have a large enough garden, you still have to do something with it before it goes bad, and it's not all gonna fit in the fridge/freezer. Pickling or canning, and then throwing it up on the shelf or down in a basement, out in the garage, etc., still makes a lot of sense in that case. It's true that commercial produce is available all year, but everything you grow is something you don't have to buy, something that doesn't have to be shipped halfway around the world to get to you, and home grown produce is still just as seasonal as it has historically ever been.

[@icedcat4021]

I mean if you are that far away from a grocery store what are the chances you have an internet connection and are watching this video

[@auxchar]

@@icedcat4021 Well, I'm not one of them, but I know they're out there.

[@edt1201]

They are fantastic on almost everything, the thumbnail does NOT lie.

[@lyagushkha8490]

Wow, this video is just what I needed, I wanted to make some pickled onions but didn't know what method to use. Thanks Adam

[@Tohei08]

thank you for this experiment. I just starting making picked onions this past year, and I appreciate the work and science you put into this.

[@mordekaihorowitz]

This is vain, but I feel so validated every time Adam considers something I happen to enjoy making to be great. Pickled pink onions are so so good

[@jonjohns8145]

I the Levant (and other areas surrounding) the second most popular pickles is Pink colored Turnips. The pink is achieved by adding a few slices of red beets or some red beet juice in with the pickle. The most popular pickle is cucumber or snake gourd, You get that EVERYWHERE.

[@aragusea]

Those are also very good

[@smokeymirror6550]

That sounds delicious

[@Dagothig]

I'm far too lazy to actually get red onions to pickle them, so I stole the beet trick from the pickled turnip recipes and throw in a beet! I find the color you get nicer, and the beet tastes quite nice

[@jonjohns8145]

@@aragusea I would love to make some snake gourd pickles but it's almost impossible to find in the US, and I have black thumbs (everything I plant dies) so I can't even grow it myself 😞

[@strongjohn10956]

Your note about the Bayless method is spot on. I use the juice of two limes added to a 50% white vinegar/water solution that I do heat, but just enough to dissolve the salt and sugar. I do run the cut onions under hot tap water, but just for a moment.

[@Diie89]

I am SO HAPPY you at least mentioned re-using the pickle juice in the video. At home my dad asked me the very same thing! I of course gave it a try but instead of throwing cucumbers after a batch of red onions, I used even more red onions (since the first batch got eaten rather quickly) and noted a distinct increase in pungency and lack of sweetness in the second batch of pickled red onions!

[@ujai5271]

Thank you for doing these. I love seeing "field tests" like this. But also: this shirt is practically radiating blue.

[@fragmanize]

Hey Adam. These are my favorite topping on the vegetarian nachos my girlfriend orders at a bar we go to, and I’ve been trying to find them in the store FOREVER. You have officially made my day and possibly ruined hers (she hates my onion breath) 😆

[@JMK15]

This was such a great video. Learned a ton. Thanks 🙏🏻

[@DarrenStephens1]

This was just terrific… Thank you for all your detailed, hard work on our behalf!

[@Eric1SanDiego1]

"First bisect the onion longitudinally, pole to pole..." "...and everything equilibrates across the entire mass." I absolutely _love_ Adam's sesquipedalian vocabulary.

[@usernameinvalid8323]

That’s a big word

[@maxrobomutt]

I love making these, pretty much always have a jar of them in my fridge lol

[@darksideofdonny]

Man you’re the coolest Adam! I just recently started pickling lots of stuff this year!!! Thanks for all your work! You are truly appreciated! My favorite thing to pickle is cabbage right now. Perfect for hot dogs.

[@justintuesday8483]

Perfect timing. I was just trying to decide which way I should try to do these on my own. Couldn’t be more grateful for this video

[@sarahkramer8954]

I accidentally discovered cold-pickled onions when experimenting with making home vinegars. I was wanting to save off all the vinegar, but didn't want to ditch all the onions. Yes, the texture was a bit slimy compared to the fresher version, but the complexity of the flavors was amazing. They also lasted for over a year, FWIW.

[@miabussell0229]

Pink Picked Onions! Oops! I hope you mean pickled, haha!

[@priayief]

Incredibly helpful and informative. Thanks for posting.

[@crunchybiscuits4080]

The healthiest pickled onions 3/4 apple cider vinegar 1/4 water add a few allspice and pop in fridge for a couple of days also do the same recipe with cooked sliced beetroot, fabulous

[@corwinchapman4565]

so in terms of the samples 3 and 4, the difference between full-vinegar and half-vinegar would be that the full vinegar ones ostensibly taste better as a food compliment, such as on the nachos you used as a test bed, but the half-vinegar ones might be a better choice for eating by themselves, perhaps as part of a crudite platter? Crackers and sliced meats and such? Just trying to get a sense of the taste.

[@joylox]

I've done half vinegar traditional dill pickles, and I'd agree with that. They're good on their own or in more mild sandwiches, but not quite enough flavour to have in a burger. Still good, and I'm glad I made them (I grew too many cucumbers this year).

[@LuomuKekkonen]

About the quality of the vinegar, while I haven't been able to really tell the difference between the cheap and expensive vinegars either, one thing to note is that at least here in my country the cheap ones (labeled only as "vinegar") are a byproduct in oil refinement, while the bit more expensive ones (labeled "spirit vinegar", not sure about the english term) are made with grain. While it's hard to tell the difference in taste, I still kind of feel more relaxed eating the one distilled from grain 😁

[@NegativeC84]

Finnish vinegar is generally 10% and his vinegar seems to be 5%. so add water if you want to replicate this recipe

[@General12th]

Hi Adam! I love these comparison videos!

[@aesa1990]

I just realized how much effort you use in using descriptive language when specifically expressing what your opinion is. You avoid vague language. Great video as always! We appreciate the effort!

[@randomutubr222]

Hey Adam, I’ve got an experiment you might find interesting to try. I haven’t seen anyone else so this: When it comes to cooking with wine, it’d be interesting to just cook wine down alone, by itself. Boil off the alcohol and let it reduce just by itself. Do this for a number of different wines (of varying price points and perceived quality etc) and see how you discern the taste, how strong the flavor is (I.e., how much flavor would it actually impart in recipes?) etc. You could try this with both white and red wine. I’m sure you could fit in some sciencey stuff to talk about in there as well which is always a hit on your channel. just a thought!

[@squidjam]

Hi. So, maybe a thing to test, but my Grandma always advised against using metal utensils with stuff that was pickled. It may have to do with flavor or an adverse bacterial reaction (though, as you said, this are not the 'store for years' kind of pickles, so maybe that's why there's no problem?).

[@aragusea]

With reactive metal like aluminum or cast iron, yeah, it would matter if you left the acid in contact with the metal for a long time. But the whole point of stainless steel is that's nonreactive. Nonetheless, glass is probably the safest material for the long soak in the fridge.

[@partlycurrent]

I feel like the pickling craze has really gotten a new drive within the last year. Friends of mine that I never talked to about it have started, I've been making onions and other pickles for about a year and a half now, youtubers are making more and more pickling videos and so on. I'm all for it!

[@adamkisiel799]

I just realized that this channel actually gave me a little push towards cooking and this is super cool because I'm not going to starve now (probably).

[@juts89]

Ive definitely eaten these months out and not even thought twice about it. Not sure how stable they are or how safe that was, but never seen them go off. I was using boiled vinegar though

[@tz8785]

Probably influenced in no small part by heat or how much acetic acid was in the eventual pickling liquid. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pYeykJhrdqt_rdU

[@mikaelgillberg7555]

I've been eating them all my life and never had any issues with them going bad. If the last a long time in the fridge (not common) they just turn dull.

[@sandakureva]

I've actually never made pickled onions. I'm gonna try that though. Adendum: I am going to the store to get some stuff to make pickled onions.

[@benjaminotalora363]

so funny, we were literally discussing how to pickle onions at work the other day! We normally use the lime method since we mostly sell tacos and other mexican style dishes, and Mexican styled pickle onions are made not just with limes, but key limes which tend to be even more acidic. In our case you WANT the strong lime flavor since many dishes typically also go with a squeeze of lime, but the new chef is convinced we could do vinegar only and have the same results. Definitely going to try a half and half method and see if I like what comes out

[@contrariangrin]

Love these iterative experiments

[@Alice.59]

The best method I ever tested was to cook the onions in a bit of olive oil with lot of the spice you want and a little bit of sugar, until they are really soft and transparent but with still a little crunch Boil water+vinegar 55/45 , onion in a clean jar, hot vinegar on top, wait till it's at room temp and then in the fridge for 12h et voila, best picked onion you will ever taste

[@MasterGeekMX]

Mexican here. In the mayan peninsula what they do is pickle red onions in sour orange with salt, oregano and habanero pepper. That is called xnipec sauce (pronounced "sh-nee-peck"). The lime juice thing is basically a substitute of the sour orange. Vinager also works. The key is the oregano and the habanero.

[@Hans-iq3fn]

That sounds like what I ate in Belize. Lots of food stalls have a jar of mysterious pickle topping and I wasn’t sure what was in it, but it definitely had oregano. Some were a cabbage and red onion blend.

[@ohiasdxfcghbljokasdjhnfvaw4ehr]

yessss, i love food tests. thanks for doing this! hope to see more!

[@wizpig64]

YES thank you for sciencing out this staple!

[@41A2E]

I really wish I liked pickled onions! On paper they sound like a highly versatile culinary commodity. Also, as you mentioned they seem to be the hottest thing right now with cooking youtubers. My sister makes them all the time, but I've tried a couple different recipes she made and really did not care for them... Perhaps some modification to the recipe could make them more palatable to me? I don't know. It's kind of a bummer that so many recipes online use them now, but I really just don't like the taste.

[@justforplaylists]

Do you know what it is that bothers you? The texture, smell, spiciness, sourness, sweetness, the combination, etc?

[@jhumberstone6452]

You can probably train yourself to like them if you try them with a few different other foods over a period of time. I have heard 8-12 times trying something you don't currently like will change your mind, you just have to decide whether it's worth it! (my partner did this with olives and will now happily buy and eat them. Took several years to get there though, trying different kinds every 6 months or so.)

[@Daniel-ph6cs]

Don't worry, you don't have to like every food. I myself don't care that much for pickled onions either. To me they taste like mild onions that are sour, which is not that special. But I can understand that some people like them.

[@41A2E]

@@justforplaylists To me it's just a general funk. I don't care much for pickled cucumbers either, with the exception of kosher dill, which I love. It's the smell and the "sourness" that are the primary offenders of the onions(I love sour, but again it just tastes funky when it comes to the pickled onions) I know kosher dill pickles are sweeter than regular, but i also hate sweet pickles. Not sure why it's just kosher dill that like. If pickled onions tasted more like kosher dill maybe I'd like them more, but I wouldn't know how that's accomplished. :P

[@justforplaylists]

@@41A2E I think Kosher pickles usually have more salt and garlic and are fermented.

[@Krvsrnko]

If you have the time, Id highly recommend making lacto-fermented onions. Slice the onions, put them into a sealable jar, pour some salt water on them, and let them rest in a warm place for a week or so. When they start to bubble, they're done! The most complex and delicious way to make onions, and it holds for forever in the fridge.

[@MannyJazzcats]

I cannot put across exactly how pleasing the detail in this video is,I love pickled vegetables more than life itself.

[@GiuseppePipia]

My grandma used to make it for the next day when I as a child had breakfast with a tomato (just harvested from the garden) salad or sandwich with freshly baked bread! They are AMAZING!!!

[@Chowdahhh]

I've been doing method number 4 for a while now, though sometimes they'll definitely be sitting in my fridge longer than a couple weeks (esp if I make multiple jars from a big onion), but I think I'll experiment a little the next few times I make them. I think half water/half vinegar without boiling and just half vinegar will be the ones I try

[@saraharas7890]

So Adam, my mother-in-law just showed me some pickled veg she made ( cauliflower, Aubergine, cucumber, carrots) and she just put them in a jar with vinegar, salt and sugar and left them for two weeks. But from what you said I gathered that there should be more precaution involved when it comes to pickling hygiene. Could you make a separate video about that please?

[@lisahinton9682]

@sarah aras Your mother-in-law has no-doubt been making pickled veg for many decades and knows what she's doing. Adam didn't say "At the 2-week mark, it all becomes unsafe, and toss it out." He said, paraphrasing, "To be the safest and surest, make only enough to last a couple of weeks, then make more, since the process is so simple." He even said to not toss the liquid when the pickles are gone and to re-use it for more pickles. Go on and tell your mother-in-law she doesn't know what she's doing and see how fun your marriage becomes.

[@OsirusHandle]

Theyre probably fine, you should just sterilise everything and pull the air out if you want them to really last a long time. A good way if you have glass jars is to boil the jars without their lids (just above water line, make sure the heat isnt too high to avoid cracking the glass) with the lids submerged, then if theyre at 65 C for a minute you can seal them while hot and they should be fine out the fridge for a few years if not longer. The heat should force a vacuum if they are sealed with silicon or sterile cloth or something.

[@SuperJaXXas]

Great episode, very informative! Maybe a future episode on salt fermented pickles?

[@borysfx]

I was in Romona California and ate at Mananas who had the absolute best pickled red onions I had ever had. Now this video is up and my life is complete.

[@colemanpinkerton2736]

Wow this video is incredible timing! I’ve been thinking a lot about pickled vegetables lately, actually more about fermented ones like the “old school” pickled ones. I think you may want to look more into the process of fermenting vegetables. I recommend “The Art of Fermentation” by Sandor Katz, who actually contradicts some of what you said about the difficulty of fermentation. The reality is, people have been using fermentation as a very robust form of preservation for maybe 10,000 years… it does not require complex tools and measurements to be safe, nor does it require anything close to sterility. Cleanliness is fine. I think if your willing to smoke your own meat in the back yard you should definitely try some veggie fermentation! Kimchi maybe? I’d love to see it. I think a lot of why many people are a little intimidated by fermentation is fear of botulism, but what’s funny is botulism is actually not really a threat given the correct pH levels, which can easily be measured by taste, tho pH strips are cheap as well. The community of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts that does the actual fermentation inhibit the growth of mold and other contaminants. In fact, IIRC botulism was not really a recorded food contaminate until the development of canning processes, which produces a sterile environment that will enable the rapid growth of botulism if the spores are not killed during the canning process (by reaching 121 C for a while). Love the video, pickled onions are the best!!!

[@josephschmitt733]

I always felt that French cut had a better mouth feel and texture than slicing on the latitude. Seemed more “tender and crunchy” when sliced French. Maybe from the preservation of more cell walls? Who knows. Maybe that’s just me.

[@rawkhawk414]

I kinda felt the same for a similar reason. If the onion's vascular system runs top to bottom then it also likely has more tensile strength. Like although it'd hard to imagine I bet it's harder to pull an onion apart with your hands than it would be to split it in half with your hands. I think it's why onion rings are floppy. French cut onions tend to have spines whereas ring cut onions have like a ring of vertebrae not supporting anything lol.

[@tonylopez6213]

At home (Mexican household), the raw chopped onions are not blanched, we cover them half way with white vinegar and add the juice of a lime, plus a but of salt and sugar. Then we let them pickled for a couple of days in the fridge. We also do the same with habanero peppers. This combo goes great with Cohinita Pibil.

[@neatoman5367]

Can you give me the measurements for this? Sounds tasty!

[@LE0NSKA]

I JUST tried this and was planning on a new try. this timing is incredible

[@FlowerBoyWorld]

hey adam, something that comes to my scientifically drilled mind when i see this video and the kenji story as well is that none of these tests are double blind and i think that could be a fun thing for you to do in in some future videos. just have someone relabel you samples and write down which is which, you'll try them without knowing what it is, write down (or record) what you think and afterwards match them to the sample. i'm very sure that there are many taste tests where confirmation bias is a huge factor.

[@bib144]

I made them once with another basic recipe. They were extremely oniony, pungent and hot, almost like eating just a vinegary onion. I couldn't figure it out if it was supposed to taste like that or i did something wrong.

[@MrRilarios]

I would suggest to go in the route of blanching them first, and try to combine lime and vinegar, or just limes.. I always tought that they we're too pungent for me, but once I blanched and pickled them in lime they tested way better for me. I think it is just a case for experimenting and trying to nail the Best flavour for You .

[@bib144]

@@MrRilarios thanks ill try that when i have the chance. I kind of feel left out since so many people love and put in on everything whereas it was like biting an onion to me lol.

[@loicquivron3872]

Had thé same expérience, i then made 1:3 vinegar:water ratio, using rice vinegar+ boiling and it was much better

[@DonnieX6]

Perfect timing! I was just about to make some pickled onions, as I just bought some red ones! :) Will go the route "fill up halfways with vinegar"

[@beck645]

Adam I regret not discovering you years ago. You make perfect videos. Nothing but the facts. No wasting time. No cussing. No time wasted trying to look cute. Lots of science. You set an amazing standard. I subscribed and can’t wait to watch more of your videos. Thank you for what you do.