Apple-Sweetened Yellow Onions

On February 23, 2023November 19, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, Cookbook, picklesLeave a comment

I have to admit: Before I wrote The Complete Guide to Pickling, I rarely thought about pickling onions. Onions land in just about every jar of pickles I make, from Spring Asparagus Pickles and Salt-and-Vinegar Winter Squash, to canned Honeyed Bread-and-Butter Chips, to Southern-Style Pickled Shrimp. If I wanted slices of pickled onions for a sandwich, I just fished them out of one of those jars.

But part of the fun of pickling onions is that red onions are just as readily available as yellow ones, making it easy to create colorful combinations. Lime-Pickled Onions, with thinly slices of red onion immersed in lime juice, become a shocking pink. Red Onions in Wine Vinegar turn a deeper reddish hue. For Fermented Red Onions, weighing down the onion rings with a red beet doubles down on the brightness. I even use red onions, and sometimes just their skins, in other recipes for an extra shot of color.

The pickled onions I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon keep their pale, nearly translucent color, but apple cider vinegar and a little bonus sugar make them a bit sweeter than these more colorful versions.
Learn to make Apple-Sweetened Yellow Onions

Spring Asparagus Pickles

On March 3, 2022November 19, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, Cookbook, pickles, Workshops1 Comment

Join me at two free pickling workshops this month. Learn more at TwiceasTasty.com. — *Pickling asparagus. Photograph by Andrea Getts.*

As I note this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, in my world, spring means pickling workshops. I’m offering two free workshops in the upcoming week: a virtual presentation and demonstration on March 6 and an in-person talk with samples on March 10. I hope you can join me. Learn more about these workshops in my column.
Learn to make Spring Asparagus Pickles

Ginger-Spiked Carrot and Apple Pickle

On December 16, 2021November 19, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, Cookbook, pickles2 Comments

Pickles have been a holiday staple since I was a kid. A bowl of home-canned pickles always sat on the dinner table at gatherings. While we waited for guests to arrive, my dad would be sneaking Christmas cookies, but I’d be dipping the cute little serving fork into the pickle bowl. If we set the table too early, I could nearly empty that bowl before the doorbell rang.

The flavorful pickle I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon adds a bit of zing to many rich holiday main dishes and puts a splash of color on the table. It’s one of the 125 recipes you can find in my cookbook The Complete Guide to Pickling.
Learn to make Ginger-Spiked Carrot and Apple Pickle

Curtido

On October 28, 2021December 27, 2021 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Cookbook, Fermenting, Refrigerating, Topic, UsingLeave a comment

Can you believe that just 1 year ago I announced the release of my cookbook, The Complete Guide to Pickling? More than 6,000 copies have sold over the last year, and I’ve received such amazing feedback from readers. I’m particularly thrilled that I can continue to share some of my favorite recipes from the 125-strong collection. Thanks to Clean Plates, you can now learn more about—and how to make—my Cultured Curtido (Cabbage Slaw) recipe.
Learn to make fermented and quick curtido

Preserving Onions

On September 30, 2021September 30, 2021 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Cookbook, Refrigerating, Topic, Using1 Comment

Until I wrote the The Complete Guide to Pickling, I rarely pickled onions on their own. I dropped slices into other pickle jars, from refrigerator zucchini to canned bread-and-butter cucumbers to fermented kimchi. They weren’t just garnish and always ended up on sandwiches or in breakfast potatoes. But I rarely devoted pantry or fridge space to jars of pickled onions.

Once I started creating just such onion-focused recipes for the cookbook, I couldn’t stop. There were so many fun variations, flavors, and uses. Now I’m simply making the book’s recipes for my own enjoyment, and if you open my fridge today—you’ll find plenty of onion pickles.
Read more about preserving onions and learn to make Apple-Sweetened Yellow Onions

Preserving Chilies

On September 16, 2021September 16, 2021 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Cookbook, Refrigerating, Topic, Using5 Comments

Sambal Oelek (Chile Paste). Get the recipes in The Complete Guide to Pickling by Julie Laing. — *Sambal Oelek (Chile Paste). Photograph by Andrew Purcell.*

Just like the cabbage I wrote about last week, chilies feature heavily in my pickling cookbook, The Complete Guide to Pickling. I pickle and preserve them on their own in recipes ranging from Beer-Pickled Jalapenos to Spicy Vinegar and from quick-pickled Chile Rings to fermented hot sauces. I also drop them into many of the savory pickles in the book and even a few of the sweeter ones, like Jerk-Spiced Banana Pickles.

Do I preserve so many chilies because we grow more than 40 pepper plants every year, or do we grow that many plants so I have boxes of chilies? It’s hard to say, but at least half of our homegrown peppers carry a mild to a fiery heat. Jalapenos and poblanos take up much of the hoop house space, but I bump up the Scoville scale with serranos, bird’s eye chilies, habaneros, and cayenne peppers.

The mix varies each year—as does the quality and size of the harvest. After buying and pickling pepperoncini to test for a new recipe for the cookbook, I grew some of these mild chilies for the first time last year. They started turning red when they were smaller than my thumb, so I pickled them in pint jars. This year, a plant from Swan River Gardens has grown taller than the cherry tomato cages and produced peppers longer than my index finger. Two half-gallon jars are stuffed full in my fridge, and more peppers are ready to harvest.
Read more about preserving chilies and learn to make Sambal Oelek (Chile Paste)

Preserving Cabbage

On September 9, 2021September 16, 2021 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Cookbook, Fermenting, Refrigerating, Topic, UsingLeave a comment

When Americans think of pickled foods, they often start with two vegetables: cucumbers and cabbage. For both types, the options extend far beyond basic dill slices and sauerkraut. I included 11 cucumber and 7 cabbage pickles in The Complete Guide to Pickling, ranging from quick pickles to relishes to ferments.

In the cabbage category, curtido has become one of my favorites. This pickled cabbage slaw originated in El Salvador and typically combines cabbage, onion, and oregano, sometimes adding other flavors like carrot, chili, garlic, lime, and cilantro. It comes together in just 20 minutes, but letting it sit in salt for a couple of hours to draw out the vegetables’ natural liquid keeps the mixture from becoming watery. After it sits another 6 hours, the curtido is ready to eat—but it keeps in the fridge for several weeks.
Read more about preserving cabbage and learn to make Eight-Hour Curtido

A Year of Pickles

On September 2, 2021September 2, 2021 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Canning, Cookbook, Fermenting, Refrigerating, Topic, Using1 Comment

It’s hard to believe that this time last year I was gearing up for my cookbook’s release. Sample recipes from The Complete Guide to Pickling at TwiceasTasty.com. — *Fermented Red Onions and Half-Sour Dill Pickles. Photograph by Andrew Purcell.*

It’s hard to believe that this time last year I was gearing up for the launch of my first cookbook, The Complete Guide to Pickling. The timeline of writing and publishing a book means that I spent September 2020 sitting on my hands, resisting the urge to share my favorite recipes from the book ahead of the sales schedule and Brenda Ahearn’s stunning photos from my side project, The Pickled Picnic recipe collection, before the cookbook’s release.

As the cookbook’s official on-sale and launch party dates approached, I shared a handful of recipes from the book and offered details on some helpful tools I’d discovered while working on the project. This year, I’m able to get a jump on sharing new recipes from the book while many of us are still in the heart of harvest season.
Sample recipes from The Complete Guide to Pickling

Pickled Eggs

On August 19, 2021August 19, 2021 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Cookbook, Ingredient, Refrigerating, UsingLeave a comment

Pickled eggs keep and travel well, and some tricks will help you when making pickled eggs. Learn more at TwiceasTasty.com.
Harvest is in full swing, which means my canning and fermenting supplies dominate my mudroom and my refrigerator is packed with produce waiting to be preserved. But after the successful launch of my pickling cookbook, The Complete Guide to Pickling, last fall, I’ve made time for some recipes that make minimal use of my homegrown produce, including pickled eggs.

We have a rich supply of eggs on the farm where I garden. As I created pickled egg recipes for my cookbook, I fell in love with the rich colors of brine-infused egg whites against bright orange yolks. Since then, I’ve been playing with all sorts of brines—reused from other pickles and made from scratch—to produce a range of colors and flavors.

Pickled eggs keep and travel well, and we’ve been eating them regularly all summer. They have become staples for multiday cruises aboard The Blue Mule, and they make a great post-yoga snack or grab-and-go breakfast with the garden’s latest berries. I’ve learned a few tricks along the way that will help you when making pickled eggs.
Learn to reuse pickle brine and make pickled eggs

Twice as Tasty Turns 5

On June 3, 2021June 2, 2021 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Canning, Cookbook, Event, Fermenting, Workshops9 Comments

It’s been 5 years since I began the Twice as Tasty blog, and what a journey it has been. What started as a fun hobby creating a series of recipes read by a handful of friends has led to a shift in my writing and editing business—and it’s growing every day.

Thanks for being part of the adventure. The more you read, the more I research ideas, share new recipes and techniques, and write on the blog and for other publications.
Read more about what’s new with Twice as Tasty