The Best Vinegar To Choose For Deliciously Sweet Pickled Red Onions

If you enjoy adding flavor-packed ingredients to everyday meals, consider making your own pickled red onions. Given the fact that these bright pink delights are made simply by combining sliced red onions, salt, sugar, and your favorite vinegar, why wouldn't you have a ready-made jar handy at all times? Pickled red onions are a zesty ingredient to use when your meals and snacks need an extra jolt of flavor. Not only do these easily prepared pickled onions add a satisfying crunch to food, they also have a briny taste that balances rich and savory dishes. While most pickled red onion recipes seem pretty straight forward, there is one type of vinegar you should use when you want a sweeter result: Apple cider vinegar.

The flavor of raw red onions tends to be quite harsh and almost spicy to the tongue. The apple cider vinegar and sugar in the brine tone down these harsh flavors and impart a mild sweetness to your onions, but they will still remain a tangy, flavor-loaded topping. Additionally, you can adjust your homemade pickled red onion recipe to fit your own specific tastes.

Since apple cider vinegar is made from pressed and fermented apples, this particular vinegar has a sweeter taste compared to other varieties. White vinegar, for example, can be quite harsh on the palate since its composed purely of water and acetic acid from alcohol. On the other hand, wine-infused vinegars tend to have rich underlying flavors from the white or red wine. Apple cider vinegar imparts a subtle sweetness to your pickled veggies, playing up the natural sweetness found in red onion. 

Moreover, with apple cider vinegar, you may not need to use a lot of sugar in the pickling process. While many pickled red onion recipes call for over half a cup of sugar for every cup of vinegar, the already balanced taste of apple cider vinegar may require less sweetener. As a matter of fact, instead of sugar, you can balance cider vinegar's acidic bite with a bit of lemon juice.

Next to using less added sugar, making pickled red onions with apple cider vinegar may come with additional health benefits. Consuming apple cider vinegar may help balance the body's blood glucose levels, support effective weight loss, and maintain heart and skin health. Now that you know the advantages of using apple cider vinegar, you're ready to make your very own batch of pickled red onions.

Sure enough, the mild sweetness of apple cider vinegar combines well with several additional ingredients and spices. Cider vinegar is the perfect acid to use when you want to add a kick to your pickled red onions with jalapeño or habanero peppers. The opposing sweet and spicy flavors work in harmony, creating a tasty topping for ground beef tacos with zesty guacamole. Ingredients like raw garlic and red pepper flakes bring extra flavor to your pickled red onions. Try using a variety of citrus juice to highlight the sweeter elements of apple cider vinegar. 

For pickled red onions with a more full-bodied taste, mix apple cider vinegar with whole spices or fresh herbs for a robust result. Choose from a range of whole spices including coriander seeds, fennel seeds, and allspice berries. You can also add fresh herbs such as basil, oregano, rosemary, or thyme for a savory bite. No matter which ingredients you choose, you can easily alter the resulting taste of freshly made pickled red onions with more salt, sugar, or water. Whenever you're after pickled red onions on sweeter side, definitely choose apple cider vinegar.