Pickling Onions

[grahamR]

I've been told that you can use ordinary onion varieties - Ailsa Craig, Beds Champ. etc - for pickling if you plant them very close together to restrict growth. Has anyone experience of this? I'm not keen on "Paris Silverskin", so fancy giving this a try.

[rustylady]

I've not tried it myself, but I suppose it should work.

Why not try shallots though, they produce smaller bulbs than onions.

[cheops]

You would of course restrict the growth by planting those very close together but I would imagine you would end up with odd shapes and varying sizes. I'm growing Pompei spring onions this year which are for pickling. Google them and see yourself what they say about them.

[Aberdeenplotter]

Why not try shallots though, they produce smaller bulbs than onions.

My advice also. Mature bulbs will be tastier than immature bulbs of large onions.

[Creemteez]

I'm growing Golden Gourmet Shallots for pickling. Pickled a few last year as an experiment and they are just fabulous....Dammit, I want one now.........

[Shadylane]

I plant onions in clusters, by sowing a pinch per module, then planting the whole clump as one. I always end up with varying onion sizes and last year being quite rubbish I had loads of small ones. Yes they got pickled and yes they were mighty fine, at least Himself thought so I've never bought specific pickling onions, I didn't realise you were supposed to

[Veggielot]

One of the reasons I got my allotment was memories of going to my grandfather's allotment when on holiday. I can remember making pickled onions using shallots picked from his allotment, they always made good picked onions. In theory you could use ordinary onions but if I was going to grow onions to pickle I would go with shallots.

[alldigging]

Shallots recommended by my mum and little sis's bf's dad (if thats not too complicated) - now his are delicious! Dry them well, bit of brown sugar apparently helps.

[Snadger]

I plant onions in clusters, by sowing a pinch per module, then planting the whole clump as one. I always end up with varying onion sizes and last year being quite rubbish I had loads of small ones. Yes they got pickled and yes they were mighty fine, at least Himself thought so I've never bought specific pickling onions, I didn't realise you were supposed to

That sounds the way to go if you want onions of a size to pickle. They must of course be fully ripened (tops withered) before use.
I've never seen onion sets in production but I believe that this is the way they produce these very small versions of larger onions, by growing close together.They rely on the fact that onions are a biennial and will grow to maturity the second year.

[Shadylane]

They don't grow small as a rule, when grown in clumps. I leave space between each clump so they can push apart. I usually get a few big uns and one or two titchy uns, ie the runts of the bunch. I suppose if you grew them all close together with no spaces in between each clump then they would all be small.