Red onion jam! Red Tropea onion is a variety of onion whose origins go as far back as the Phoenicians, which are cultivated along the Tyrrhenian coast from Vibo Valentia to Cosenza. With a sweet taste and crunchy texture, this product received the PGI classification in 2008 and it's perfect to make the best onion jam ever. Its taste and sweetness are perfect to make jams, boasting an intense and defined taste, perfect to accompany both cow and goat cheeses, whether they’re aged or fresher and more delicate. Onion jam can be spread over slices of cheese or served next to an assorted plateau of dairy products. Once you have tried it, you will no longer be able to do without it!
Tropea onions, a remedy for your health
Don't turn your noses up all you onion critics thinking to an onion jam. The red Tropea we made this onion jam with, boasts a very long list of health benefits, which even the unruliest of consumers will have to succumb! Diuretic, laxative, highly digestible and rich in vitamins. These are the properties of the red onion of Tropea PGI. But there’s more! It’s also antiseptic, anesthetic, diuretic, emollient, anti-asthmatic, curative against rheumatism, headaches, abscesses. It favors bile secretion, counteracts colds and flu, regulates the rate of cholesterol in the blood and reduces the risk of cancer. Moreover, being composed of 90% water, 1% proteins and important minerals as well as very little fat, it’s a perfect food for those following a low-calorie diet.
The recipe for Tropea onion jam
Here is how to prepare a jam with Tropea onions.
Ingredients
600 g red Tropea onions, 100 g brown sugar, the filtered juice of a lemon, 1 bay leaf, two juniper berries, a pinch of salt, 100 g pine nuts.
Method
To male Tropean onion jam, peel the onions, slice them, and put them in a saucepan together with the sugar, lemon juice and salt. Cook over low heat for an hour. Halfway through cooking, add the bay leaf, juniper berries and pine nuts. Mix well so that the onion jam doesn’t stick. Once ready, remove the bay leaves and pour it immediately into the previously sterilized jars, close with the cap and put them upside down until they have cooled. Then check that the vacuum has formed by ensuring the caps don’t have the classic "click clack" sound.
Tropea onion jam tips
To get a full-bodied or finer texture to onion jam, it depends on how you chop the onion.
If you prefer, replace the lemon juice with two tablespoons of white wine vinegar and you’ll achieve the same sweet and sour contrast in the onion jam.
If you like, you can add a tablespoon of soaked raisins to the Tropea onion jam recipe and increase its sweetness!
Do you know that in order to preserve onions in the best possible way you should never place them next to potatoes? They will both sprout after a few days if so.
Tropea onions can be frozen. You can close them already cleaned in a food bag and store them for several months in the freezer.