Help! Pickled Onions!

[BrokenOphelia]

The only recipes I can find are for pickled onions using malt vinegar and also spices. I want to make just nice and plain silverskin style pickled onions but cannot for the life of me find a recipe anywhere! Any help on this would be muchly appreciated

[jackie j]

I usualy do what my gran and mum did, put onions in a bowl with salt over night to take away excess water, rinse, put into jars with pickling vineger, Sarsons do one, no extra spices added, also there is a white vinegar.

[lynda66]

i just put my little onions straight into sarsons white pickling vinegar .... a year on, they are still lovely and crunchy

[BrokenOphelia]

If the skin is dried on the outside do you peel it off or just leave it and hope it will soften?

[Hilary B]

If the skin is dried on the outside do you peel it off or just leave it and hope it will soften?

Dried bits are not a good idea....

[Two_Sheds]

How do you mean?
You are peeling before pickling aren't you?

Pickling vinegar is pretty expensive: I use Tesco's white (55p) and add my own spices (mustard powder, mustard seed & turmeric)

[BrokenOphelia]

We got pickling vinegar while it was cheap/on sale at £1 a 3 litre tubby bottly thing. I did peel them, took me 3 hours because it was a lot of onions. I have put them in jars and am going to see if I can use canning to seal the jars as I have never tried that before and from what I have read theoretically it will work.

[Two_Sheds]

I did peel them, took me 3 hours because it was a lot of onions.

Next time, a quicker way is to drop your whole onions (just topped and tailed) into a bowl of boiled water first. Then slit the skin and they slip off nice n easy

[MagicLady]

Sounds like I've done mine right then First time so I'm really looking forward to opening the jar. How long after putting them in the vinegar would you leave them before opening?

[valmarg]

We got pickling vinegar while it was cheap/on sale at £1 a 3 litre tubby bottly thing. I did peel them, took me 3 hours because it was a lot of onions. I have put them in jars and am going to see if I can use canning to seal the jars as I have never tried that before and from what I have read theoretically it will work.

Are you sure that what you bought was malt vinegar, not non-brewed condiment aka acetic acid.

valmarg

[T8Ter]

Sounds like I've done mine right then First time so I'm really looking forward to opening the jar. How long after putting them in the vinegar would you leave them before opening?

Hi Magiclady,
I would normally leave mine 4 weeks before trying, I put chillies in with mine so try and leave them longer if I can resist, as they get hotter over time

[susieq100]

Thank you Two Sheds

Next time, a quicker way is to drop your whole onions (just topped and tailed) into a bowl of boiled water first. Then slit the skin and they slip off nice n easy

I bought a net of pickling onions to make some for my brother for Christmas. The first 8 took nearly 15 minutes However I remembered reading something posted by Two Sheds ... looked it up ... the remaining 2 pounds took me 15 minutes. Thank you, thank you, thank you

[ecoprincess]

Does anyone know how I can make sweet pickled onions? Would I just add a tbsp or so of sugar to them? My mum always makes them in malt vinegar, and whew! Definitely not for the faint hearted!

[valmarg]

Does anyone know how I can make sweet pickled onions? Would I just add a tbsp or so of sugar to them? My mum always makes them in malt vinegar, and whew! Definitely not for the faint hearted!

I was given this recipe some years ago, and if you want a sweeter pickled shallot/onion is should work.

4lbs shallots/pickling onions
1.5 pints vinegar
.75 lb demerara sugar
3 wineglasses of medium sherry

Peel shallots/onions and wet or dry brine. Rinse.

Boil vinegar and sugar for five minutes. Leave to go cold. Add sherry.

Pack jars with shallots/onions, cover with vinegar mix and leave for about six weeks.


The recipe does not stipulate which vinegar, but I would tend to use distilled malt, as it doesn't seem quite so sour. You could also swap some of it with sherry vinegar. It would make the onions a bit more expensive, but if they are to your taste then it would be worth it.

My gran always put a couple of dried chillies in the jars she made. Very definitely not for the faint hearted.

valmarg

[Two_Sheds]

how I can make sweet pickled onions?

Malt vinegar is cheap, but rough.
I use white distilled vinegar (55p Tesco) or if I'm feeling rich, white wine vinegar. Then you can add sugar to taste