recently made some pickled onions, candied jalapeños, and pine cone syrup. My oldest (11 year old boy) loves pickled onions so I recruited him into helping with the onions. Both my boys love the pine cone syrup so they both got to help a little on that one. Neither like jalapeños so I was on my own for that one.
My recipes don’t really use any measurements but this is how I do it:
Pickled onions
Cut your onions from stem to root
Pack your jars with the onions
Count your cars of onions and divide by 2
That’s the amount of jars of vinegar you need, match with the same amount of water
Bring your vinegar solution to a boil, you can add salt if wanted
Pour your hot mixture over the onions, you will have some left over.
Cover your jars and wait for them to seal
Candied jalapeños
Slice your jalapeños into ~1/4”
Salt your jalapeños to remove excess water ( save this jalapeño juice for later!)
Estimate how many jars your jalapeños will fill and use the same method as the pickled onions
Bring your vinegar mixture to a boil
Add 1 cup of sugar per 8oz jar of jalapeño and dissolve in the vinegar mixture
Add your jalapeños to the vinegar solution and cook a few minutes
Pack the jalapeños into a jar and fill with your vinegar syrup
Cover your jars and wait to seal
Pine cone syrup
Gather GREEN pine cones and wash any dirt/bugs off
Cut the stem off
Bring a pot of water to boil
Turn heat off and add the cones to steep till water is back to room temp
Strain pine cones and any debris
Add sugar to your steeped water. I use white and brown sugar
Bring back up to a boil and dissolve sugar
Reduce syrup to your desired thickness
Jar your syrup and enjoy! It’s surprisingly fruity and each different cone species have a different flavor. I’ve only used yellow pine so far as that’s the most common to me.
Sample of picked red and yellow onions, and candied jalapeños
11 8oz jars of pine cone syrup!
Tip: make the onions first and use the left over vinegar solution for the jalapeños. I save the jalapeño juice to mix into cornbread!
My recipes don’t really use any measurements but this is how I do it:
Pickled onions
Cut your onions from stem to root
Pack your jars with the onions
Count your cars of onions and divide by 2
That’s the amount of jars of vinegar you need, match with the same amount of water
Bring your vinegar solution to a boil, you can add salt if wanted
Pour your hot mixture over the onions, you will have some left over.
Cover your jars and wait for them to seal
Candied jalapeños
Slice your jalapeños into ~1/4”
Salt your jalapeños to remove excess water ( save this jalapeño juice for later!)
Estimate how many jars your jalapeños will fill and use the same method as the pickled onions
Bring your vinegar mixture to a boil
Add 1 cup of sugar per 8oz jar of jalapeño and dissolve in the vinegar mixture
Add your jalapeños to the vinegar solution and cook a few minutes
Pack the jalapeños into a jar and fill with your vinegar syrup
Cover your jars and wait to seal
Pine cone syrup
Gather GREEN pine cones and wash any dirt/bugs off
Cut the stem off
Bring a pot of water to boil
Turn heat off and add the cones to steep till water is back to room temp
Strain pine cones and any debris
Add sugar to your steeped water. I use white and brown sugar
Bring back up to a boil and dissolve sugar
Reduce syrup to your desired thickness
Jar your syrup and enjoy! It’s surprisingly fruity and each different cone species have a different flavor. I’ve only used yellow pine so far as that’s the most common to me.
11 8oz jars of pine cone syrup!
Tip: make the onions first and use the left over vinegar solution for the jalapeños. I save the jalapeño juice to mix into cornbread!
