| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| 2steps |
Pickled OnionsJust bought a couple og kg of onions but now looking at recipes in my books and online, they all seem to use different vinegar and I'm not sure what to chose. I want anything particular as they are for presents as well as us so different tastes to feed. Anybody got a tried and tested favorite recipe? |
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| btp |
spice your vinegar with the usual peppercorns ang mixed spices
leave to cool cover onions and add dried chillies seal and leave for 4-6 weeks to mature i cant make enough for my customers at the farmers markets cheers brian |
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| Gill |
I prefer my pickled onions to be slightly sweet, so I dissolve 2 oz of demerara sugar in every pint of spiced vinegar. Like Brian, I add chillies (dried chilli flakes) for a bit of extra kick.
Gill |
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| joanne |
I usually make a Sherry Pickled Onion recipe which also works well with shallots
2lb Pickling Onions 6oz Brown Sugar ¾ Pint Malt Vinegar Wine Glass Sherry Method Peel the onions and salt them overnight. Heat together the sugar and vinegar until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and add the sherry. Allow vinegar mixture to go completely cold. Rinse salt off onions well and pack into clean dry sterile jars. Pour vinegar over pickles and seal. Leave for approx. 2 months before eating. They keep very well. But I also do a Chilli version which is similar to btp's which my OH loves - 2lb Pickling Onions 1 pint Malt Vineger 1 teaspoon Black Peppercorns 1 teaspoon Coriander Seeds 2 bay leaves 2 dried red chillies 1 oz fresh root ginger, peeled and sliced Salt the onions overnight - Either directly or a salt solution Boil the vinegar in a pan with the rest of the ingrediants for 10 minutes and leave to cool. Rinse the onions of excess salt and drain, then pack into clean sterilised jars and cover with the vinegar mixture - If you want a stronger onion leave the spices in otherwise strain - I tend to do so with and some without then everyone is catered for. Keep for about 6 weeks before opening I'm also going to have a go at these this year: Pickled Shallots with Garlic and Ginger 1 inch stick Cinnamon 12 Allspice Berries 12 cloves 1 heaped teaspoon black peppercorns 1 inch cube fresh root ginger, peeled and finely sliced 4 cloves garlic finely sliced 4 pints white malt vinegar 3lb shallots,peeled Salt the shallots for at least 12 hours and then rinse and drain Put the spices and vinegar into a basin and place in a saucepan of water. Bring the water to the boil but NOT the vinegar. Remove from the heat and let the spiced vinegar to cool in the covered basin. After 4 hours strain the vinegar. Pack into sterile jars and cover with the vinegar - add in 2 red chillies to ear jar if you fancy. Cover and consume within 6 months These do look very interesting and different - recipe is from the Perfect Pickle Book by David Mabey - sadly seems to be out of print now but Amazon do seem to have some 2nd hand |
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| 2steps |
Do you use white or brown vinegar? And if I'm going to add my own spices etc is there any difference in pickling vinegar and normal food vinegar? | ||||
| sean |
Pickling vinegar is stronger than eating vinegar IIRC. | ||||
| 2steps |
does that mean they will last longer? or give a better flavour? this is my first time, can you tell? 
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| sean |
Last longer I think. | ||||
| joanne |
Pickling vinegar is simply Malt Vinegar with all the spices already added - Fine if you aren't making anything special but frankly I wouldn't bother unless you want the jar!!!
The colour choice for pickled onions is simply asthetic - Traditionally it should be Brown Vinegar for onions but recipes like the one for Garlic and Ginger uses White Vinegar to show off the chillis in the jars - Brown Malt Vinegar has a stronger more vinegary taste so may not be suitable for subtle flavours That help any ? |
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| 2steps |
yes, thankyou. I bought some brown and white as we couldn't decide
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| Blue Sky |
Don't forget this bit. We have tried the pickles with out salting and they don't turn out so good. Just done a big batch of pickled red cabbage by similar method. Should be good for Christmas  [/i]
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| 2steps |
got 2kg salting as we speak 
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| Blue Sky |
Well done! 
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| 2steps |
and all in their jars now 
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| nettie |
I got given some pickling vinegar - can i just ad the chillis to it without heating it? | ||||
| hedgewitch |
Can someone explain the salting bit? Do you cover the onions in dry salt? Or in a salt solution?
 I've never pickled onions before, but you've inspired me, 2steps, and the local greengrocers has pickling onions in this week
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| judith |
You normally use dry salt - it pulls out the excess moisture from the onions so they are crisper. I haven't made pickled onions for years. I'm not sure if I can face peeling all those onions though. Has anyone found a way to make the job easier? |
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| hedgewitch |
Thanks Judith. Will buy a bag-full of onions tomorrow
Hadn't thought about the peeling, though 
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| 2steps |
my recipe used brine to saok the onions.
hedgewitch, I'd never done pickled onions either, these where my first |
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| hedgewitch |
Shopping trip had to be put off til Thursday, but I'm raring to go
2steps, how much salt to water did you use for your brine? Or don't I have to be that exact? |
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| 2steps |
8oz of salt in 4 pints of water | ||||
| james_so |
If you dump them in just boiled water for a few minutes then back in cold to cool them, then peel them straight away, the skins aren't dry and brittle and come off much easier IMHO. Try it with a few and see if it helps maybe
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| moonwind |
Could you use white or red wine vinegar either mixed or on its own as a pickling juice? | ||||
| judith |
I don't see why not. I'm not very keen on malt vinegar, apart from on my chips, so I always go for recipes that suggest something else. I have also mixed the cheapo white spirit vinegar with cider or wine vinegar to good effect - and much easier on the purse! |
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| 2steps |
mmmm that sounds like a tasty idea
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| wellington womble |
I've done different recipes - on with pickling spices out of a packet and malt vinegar, one with my spices and malt vinegar, one with my spices and cider vinegar and sugar and the same without the sugar. I'll do some next week with white wine vinegar, as one of the recipes I found suggested that too. Whichever is nicest will become my stock recipe. Peeling them was a bit tedious, but worth it for pile of jars in the larder. I probably wouldn't do it for anyone else though. They're MINE, ALL MINE. Ha ha! | ||||
| 2steps |
did you get your onions hedgewitch? bought another 2kg today to try out some other recipes. my eyes are streaming and I've barely started
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| wellington womble |
Didn't someone mention putting in contact lenses as helping (or swimming goggles?!) I had such a streaming cold when I did mine, I barely noticed the addional sniffles! | ||||
| hedgewitch |
No -- got put off again today. But I'm hoping to get there tomorrow and get them done over the weekend. Or at least get the onions in, so I can do them in the week. I've started cooking meals in bulk to freeze, and suddenly seem to have a lot of cooking to do this weekend as everything is running out So might not get round to the onions until week-day evenings.
Oh, and I want to make a cake as well Something I've not done for years and years. In fact, I think the last time I made a cake, I had to stand on a box to reach the table 
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| 2steps |
ahhhh now that's a good idea
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| moonwind |
Well it may be that it was Halloween, but I sat by the sink peeling onions, and although the smell of onions was really strong didn't even cry once. Maybe because I had pulled a chair up and was not actually looking down onto the onions as I peeled them? However, I turned and saw the OH sitting in the chair in the front room and he had tears streaming down his face, and was also muttering something about onions and my father 
Now whether he was having something similar to sympathy pains I know not, but whatever it was a good arrangement as I was fine. Mayeb the answer to the normal tears when peeling onions is to wait until Halloween or get a bloke in the house.
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| Blacksmith |
Just finished peeling my onions, glasses on and directly under the cooker extractor hood, only a few tears 
So, salting ? dry, a light sprinkling and rinse off tomorrow or leave to soak in brine ? 
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| 2steps |
I left mine in brine as that's what my recipe said and my nan says that it what she has always done. she also said don't leave them longer then a day, she did once thinking it couldn't hurt and the salt flavoured the onions and they weren't half as nice as normal
Am doing a couple of jars with chillis with whats left
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| moonwind |
I have, in the past, pickled Onions and Shallots without salting first, also without boiling vinegar to get spice flavourings.
Just peeled Onions and put them in the jars. Add the spices, cloves, chillies, peppercorns and whatever else you fancy for OUCH HOT HOT to Tasty Mild or even Spicy Sweetie (adding some sugar ((caster)). Then pour enough vinegar (or vinegar mix depending on your choice of flavouring) to half fill the Onions and Spices. Put lid on and gently shake and turn jar until Vinegar, Onions and Spices are dancing together nicely. Add more vinegar, repeat "Socialising Shake" until you have filled the Jar as in other methods. Wipe any Vinegar from sides of Jar and Store normally. Just another method of the same theme. [[I love the Sherry mix elsewhere in here, am going to do a few bunions pickled ]] |
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| judith |
What a lovely image - I can just picture it
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| Behemoth |
There is a difference between vinegar used for pickling and table vinegar in that the vinegar for pickling is 'stronger' or more acidic. There's usually something on the lable about acidity. 'Pickling vinegar' is vinegar for pickling with the spices already in it. I used Sarsons ready made pickling vinegar to do half a batch of pickled beetroot and have found it a bit...er...vinegary. I've got another couple of jars, one made with a mix made from ordinary vinegar plus a sachet of pickling spice and another with a personal concotion of pickling spice and chillis. haven't tried them yet. Possibly when I get home. | ||||
| moonwind |
I bet the ones you have done yourself will be best of all. These lovely home made recipes are great because even if they go wrong you just make sure you alter the bits that went wrong next time. The main thing that can go wrong with the Onions is that they go soft rather than stay crunchy, and you can make the same mixture with the same spices and the Onions stay crisp and crunchy for ever (so to speak) or exactly the same mix can result in them going soggy. Maybe the onions themselves are just wilters from time to time, or we haven't done them at their peak time, who knows, but great experimenting. I am forever experimenting with recipes and DS has revived my interest in all things cooking.
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| 2steps |
I didn't know I was suppost to boil the vinegar. none of the recipes I looked at mentioned that 
I did a few variations in the end. bought pickling vinegar - white and brown (seperate jars), normal malt vineagr with pices added and a few jars with dried chillis added to the pickling vinegar |
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| jamanda |
I made pickled onions with my diggers today (salted them yesterday). They really enjoyed it and the finished jars looked great with big lumps of chilli in and carefully designed labels.
I left a packet of Campden tablets on my desk and a 14 year old kid in the next lesson picked them up and sniffed them. They irritated his nose and he asked me what they were, so I showed him the label - "sterilizing tablets". He asked what they did - so I said "what it says on the label - they make you sterile" Ten minutes later he threw his book down and said he'd had enough, when asked what was the matter he almost sobbed "I won't be able to have a family now!".
I did take pity and tell him it would probably be OK, but at least it might teach him not to sniff weird stuff in a science lab. Or any where else for that matter. |
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| Blacksmith |
If only it could stop stupid people breeding ! |
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| sean |
Just tried mine, and damn good they are too, if I say so myself. Slightly sweet with a nice chilli kick, and magnificently crunchy. Well done me. | ||||
| 2steps |
how long did you leave yours for sean? | ||||
| sean |
I made them just over two weeks ago. | ||||
| 2steps |
great. my recipe said to wait 3 months but I'm impatient might try ours over the weekend
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| wellington womble |
How long do they keep once the jars are open (mine said three months, too!) | ||||
| sean |
Dunno yet. Pickles keep more or less indefinitely in my experience, as long as there's enough vinegar to cover them.
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| MIC |
Pickled OnionsHi'ya,Spent last night peeling a couple of bags full, from the market & have them salting at the moment. Bought a variety of vinagers (White & Brown Pickling, White Wine & Cider) and hope to make a few different types. Also picked up a large bag of Chillies from the Asian aisle for £1.45. I'll pop some of those into some. I will let you all know the results. Like the sound of the Sherry recipe though. MIC |
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| wellington womble |
Oh good - we can have a vertical tasting, then. Ploughman's tommorow! |
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| Behemoth |
2lb of pickling onions - check
salt - check vinegar - check spices - check pans, jars and bowls - check bottle of red wine, open - check I think I'm ready to begin.......
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| Penny Outskirts |
Glass for wine
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| wellington womble |
Straw!
Something good on the telly/radio to take your mind off peeling? tried mine yesterday - himself recons our own spices and cider vinegar were the best - I tried 'em, but they didn't taste like pickled onions to me! It's not that they weren't good, just not like pickled onions. I'll try malt vinegar next! |
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| 2steps |
agreed
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| wellington womble |
Having tried them all, the cider vinegar with our own spices and sugar were by far the best - sadly, they were so good, we have eaten them all, so I ma going to shove some shallots in the same vinegar tonight, and try them on boxing day. Will make more next year (think its worth it! Although still a labour of love, and won't be giving them away!) The sugar seems to be the key, so I'll add sugar to the other jars too, and see if that makes them nicer. | ||||
| 2steps |
have packed some of ours into xmas hampers so hope there ok maybe we should try them first
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| Behemoth |
I may have been a touch enthusiastic with the dried chillies.
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