Pickled Onions/Shallots & pickled cucumber

asea

Seakay wrote: »

" have lots of lovely shallots at home & would love to make some pickled/salted ones like my late auntie used to. She used to do shallots & mini-cucumbers in the same jar. Yummy!

Am sure she used to put them into boiling water with salt & a little vinegar but I can't remember exactly. They didn't taste vinegary, just salty. Does anybody know a recipe that I could use please?"

You don't really need a special salt for the above recipes as you are pickling them in the vinegar having used the salt to remove excess water from the vegetables.
When you see "pickling salt" mentioned (usually in American recipes) they mean coarse sea salt (fine sea salt would be just as good) ie salt with nothing added to make it non-clumping (which table salt usually does have).

All the recipes above will taste more vinegary than salty when finished - I think that the recipes which your auntie made sound as though they may have more in common with the Russian and Polish traditions of pickling. I'm going to see if I can find any suitable recipes for you.

Oh thank you!!! You are exactly right! My auntie's pickles would have a subtle salty taste rather than vinegary. I imagine that it would have been an old Greek/Turkish/Egyptian recipe than Eastern Europe though. I have yet to taste any pickles anywhere in the world that taste as lovely as hers did!!

Thanks again! I have been looking in vain!

Bongedone

They are much easier to peel if you plunge them in boiling water for 15 seconds then plunge them in ice cold water. Do it in batches so the boiling water does not get cool down. I use a washing bowl for the cold water.

Don't boil them in vinegar unless you want them to be soft. They should go into the vinegar cold. Prepare you vinegar the day before so it cools down. Your onions need to be in the brine overnight also. It is a two day process making them.

You can get cooking salt at Morrisons supermarket. My ASDA did not have any. I used Sarsons pickling vinegar as it is stronger (some of the cheap vinegars have salt and colourings). It does not cost too much more. I boiled the vinegar with sugar, peppercorns, Mustard seeds and a bay leaf. Just taste it whilst adding sugar to get the correct amount.


Good luck.

Seakay

asea wrote: »

Oh thank you!!! You are exactly right! My auntie's pickles would have a subtle salty taste rather than vinegary. I imagine that it would have been an old Greek/Turkish/Egyptian recipe than Eastern Europe though. I have yet to taste any pickles anywhere in the world that taste as lovely as hers did!!

Thanks again! I have been looking in vain!

I haven't found anything for onions or shallots yet, but this recipe from "Preserving" by Oded Schwartz is for cucumbers or gerkins. (A great book, try the library)

2lb small, firm pickling cucumbers
5-6 fat garlic cloves, bruised but not peeled
2-3 dill flower heads and stalks
3-4 fresh or dried red chillis
2-3 bay leaves
salt
a few vine leaves (optional)

Put the cucumbers into a pan and blanch in boiling water for 1 minute.

Arrange the cucumbers, garlic, dill, chillis, bay leaves in a 1.5 litre sterilised jar. Fill the jar with water, then drain into a measuring jug. Add 1.5 tablespponfuls of salt for every 500ml water, and stir until dissloved.

Pour the brine into the jar, place the vine leaves on top, if using, then weigh down with a sterilised smooth pebble or glass weight (I use a small but heavy glass tealight holder). Cover with a clean cloth and leave in a warm, well-ventilated place to ferment for 1-2 weeks. When fermentation starts, the brine will turn cloudy.

When the liquid starts to clear, indicating that fermentation is over, seal the jar tightly and store. The cucumbers are ready to eat immediately but will keep for 6 months.

Seakay

Again, no onions, but as there is a little vinegar in this recipe there is no need for fermentation.

1 large yellow pepper
1 large red pepper
1 large orange pepper
2 young carrots
4 small courgettes
1 celery heart
2 garlic clove
2 fresh chilli
2 sprigs of dill or oregano
salt

Brine:
1 tablespoon salt
75ml white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar

2 500ml jars

Wash or wipe the vegetables. Cut the peppers into rings, discarding the seeds. Cut th carrots, courgettes and celery into strips, about 4x1cm.

Layer the vegetables in a colander set over a bowl, sprinkling salt on each layer. Put a weighted plate on top and let stand overnight covered with a cloth.

To make the brine, put 300ml water ina saucepan, add the salt, vinegar garlic and sugar. Bring gently to the boil, then remove from the heat, cover and let cool.

Next day, pour boiling water over the vegetables in the colander. Drain thoroughly and dry with a clean cloth.

Pack them into the jars in layers, red pepper, celery, orange pepper, courgettes, yellow pepper more clery and carrot. (this is just for appearance and not strictly necessary). Top up each layer of vegetables wit brine as you go. When the jars are full, top qwith garlic, chilli and dill or oregano.

Top the jars to teh brim with brine. Check for air bubbles - tap the sides of the jrs to bring them to the surface or slide a thine bladed knife down the inside of the jars to release them.

Seal the jars. Leave at least 1 week before using. Keeps for 6-12 months. After opening, the flavour starts to deteriorate so keep in the fridge and finish them as soon as possible.

henmuffin

Hi, I have pickled my own onions for the first time ever. I did them about 3 weeks ago, maybe more. I followed a recipe in a book and sterilised the jars etc. However today I thought I would have a little look to see how they were getting on as they are right at the back of my cupboard.
When I looked, they looked a bit unappealing.
The vinegar looks all cloudy with bits floating in it. I did put some spices in it as the recipe said but I don't think it's that..
Do you think the onions may have gone off? Perhaps the jars weren't airtight. It is soo disappointing after spending ages peeling the things! Any advice gratefully received.

Seakay

Did you use ground spices?
Moving the jar even a little would make them rise up into the liquid, giving a cloudy appearance but not affecting the contents in a bad way.
Jars full of vinegar don't really need to be airtight to preserve the contents, it's more to stop the vinegar evaporating.

hotcookie101

Hi,
I have just pulled up my shallots from the veg patch, we have a fair few and thought I would try my hand at pickling them.
My OH loves really strong pickled onions (barry normans ones-way too strong for me) and I quite like them if not quite so strong, but do like them spicy, so I was wondering if anyone has a recipe for semi strong spicy shallots?
Also what else do I need? have lots of jars (do I sterilise them- wash in hot water dry in low oven?) What sort of vinegar, spices, do I need a special type of salt? have never pickled before
Thanks

Penelope_Penguin

This is what I'm doing today Last night I peeled the shallots, and sprinkled ordinary pouring salt over them (100g/kg). This draws out a lot of the moisture. Rinse this off and dry them. I then put them into large jars and pour over a spiced vinegar (1250ml vinegar, 150g honey, 200g sugar, chillis, spices). They're ready at Christmas :j

I've just found an older thread on pickled onions so I'll add this one to keep ideas together.

HTH, Penny. x

Penelope_Penguin

Seakey - I've had to delet you post for slightly salty pickled onions as it contravenes the forum's copyright rule:

MSE_Martin wrote:

Take care over copyright. Use excerpts and links rather than copying long text. This site asserts copyright on all comments posted on the board.

There's a link to the recipe here

Penny. x

floss2

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

This is what I'm doing today Last night I peeled the shallots, and sprinkled ordinary pouring salt over them (100g/kg). This draws out a lot of the moisture. Rinse this off and dry them. I then put them into large jars and pour over a spiced vinegar (1250ml vinegar, 150g honey, 200g sugar, chillis, spices). They're ready at Christmas :j

I've just found an older thread on pickled onions so I'll add this one to keep ideas together.

HTH, Penny. x

PP, what spices do you use & how much? I was thinking of making DF some special spiced shallots for his birthday in December...got the shallots YS in Tesco the other day!

Thanks,
Floss