ZESTY RED ONION PRESERVES

Steps:

• 1. Prepare water bath canner; sterilize your jars and lids while making the recipe. (TIP: Skip the boiling water and put your jars on a baking sheet in a 225 degree oven for 25 minutes - then reduce heat to 200 to 'hold' until ready to use. - No more boiling cans for me!)
• 2. In a large deep stainless steel saucepan combine red onion, lemon zest, and vinegar. Stir in sugar and over high heat, stirring constantly, bring to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. *TIP: You can microwave the onion skins in the vinegar to help give the finished product a richer color, or add drops of red and blue food color until you get the desired color. I use food color.
• 3. Stir in pectin. Boil hard, continuing to stir, for 1 minute. Remove from heat and quickly skim off any foam.
• 4. Working quickly, ladle hot preserves into hot jars, leaving 1/4" head-space. Wipe rim with damp paper towel or rag then seal with lid and screw on band to fingertip tight.
• 5. Place jars in canner and make sure the jars are completely covered with water. Bring back to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove jars and cool.
• 6. Use this with my https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/bread/bread-other-bread/garlic-parmesan-panetini.html?cpage=1#comment1379288 and Brie cheese.
• 7. *Notes: When I first made this I increased the recipe 7 times. When you multiply a recipe by this much the end product may not set up exactly as a single batch. That being said, I really like the end product of the large batch because it has a thick preserve-like texture. If you want it firm like jelly I'd recommend adding more pectin or making a smaller batch. Ingredients: 7 cups lg red onions, minced, about 5 large onions zest of 2 lg lemons 5 3/4 C white vinegar 5% acidity or higher 21 cups white sugar (this is not a typo) 7 pouches of Liquid Certo pectin