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Valley Bounty, December 14, 2013: Onions

Onions are so common that they can go almost unnoticed, but many meals would be sorrier without them.  In the winter, it’s especially worth slow cooking them for deep, caramelized sweet-and-savory flavor that’s good on pizza, burgers, salads, eggs, and almost anything else. If you’d like to put that flavor in a jar and give it as a gift—not to mention make a local, home-preserved product at this time of year—I recommend onion jam. Find recipes and information about local sourcing in the winter on the Valley Bounty page at www.buylocalfood.org.

Recipes

How to caramelize onions—plus a recipe for poached pear, caramelized onion, and goat cheese salad, and a good story about the pleasures of cooking at home, alone, with your sweetie—all from Berkshire food writer Alana Chernila.

Caramelized Onion Jam: It’s called relish in this recipe, but to me it seems like jam. One of the advantages of preserving is that it provides you with convenience foods later. This onion jam is a good example—quick, delicious, caramelized onions, ready to add to anything. If you find as the winter goes on that you have stored onions that are beginning to soften, turn them into this.

Sources

Not sure where to find local in the winter? Here’s information to help: