Help with pickled onions please

kippers

It sounds like we all do it slightly different. This is how i do it:

1) Peel onions and cover in table salt (i use alot to cover them). Leave over night.

2) Wash off salt and dry.

3) Put glass jar in oven for 5 mins gas 4 to sterilise (if you are using a kilner jar make sure you take the rubber seal off first if you have one on it. Sterilise the rubber seal by pouring boiling water on it.

4) Leave jars to cool for approx 15 mins then put onions in to the top and then pour pickling vinegar in. Make sure you have no air bubbles lower down in the jar...if you do then give the jar a little twist and the air normally comes to the surface. Make sure the onions are completely covered with the vinegar.

5)Put the lid on and leave for 4 weeks before you eat (if you can wait that long...we can't).



Hope that helps

JayJay14

I use the dry salt method, I've never sterilised a jar for pickles in my life - just use clean jars, pack in the onions, throw in some spices then top up with vinegar.

I haven't bumped off OH yet!!

rosieben

I seem to remember topping up the vinegar a couple of times over the first week or so, as it soaks into the onions? does anyone else do that? I used to top up with sweet sherry

meritaten

there are lots of different methods here! I never realised before you could 'dry salt' them.......I always used the brine method.
I do sterilise the jars as I tend to use old jars but have in the past with brand new jars just filled them with boiling water from the kettle and left them for ten mins then drained them! wont put oven on just to sterilise some jars when its cheaper to use Milton! have even pinched my OHs sterilising tabs for his homemade wine in the past - until I realised that actually, its the same thing as baby bottle steriliser! now he uses Milton too!
if using dry salting then i should imagine that ordinary table salt would be just fine!

I do remember one time having a glut of runner beans and no room in freezer so begged a sweety jar from the corner shop and salted a jarful of runner beans. as long as i remembered to rinse rinse and rinse again and NOT use salt in the cooking water, they tasted like fresh! even better than frozen actually! but I did use a glass jar and not sure that the plastic ones would be ok.

harrys_nan

JayJay14 wrote: »

I use the dry salt method, I've never sterilised a jar for pickles in my life - just use clean jars, pack in the onions, throw in some spices then top up with vinegar.

I haven't bumped off OH yet!!

that is how I do it except I cheat and use the ready spiced vinegar now

lunar

Thank you so much for everyones help, my onions are now all pickled and yes it was much easier that I had gathered fron various books and websites. Cant wait till I can eat them!

Nikkisun

I'm all ready to make my pickled onions but have googled too much and confuddled myself!!

Some recipes say you need to boil the vinegar and others don't!

How do you make yours??

Bongedone

I think the boiling is to infuse the spices. If it is already spiced then there would be no need.

Good luck peeling them. Most awful job I have ever done. Somebody on here suggested putting them in the fridge 1st.

Nikkisun

Thanks - I'm going to bribe the kids to peel them!

Seakay

I boil the vinegar with the spices and then strain it over the salted, rinsed and dried onions when it is cold