Topic: Advice on oinions for Pickling please

[flowerlady]

I would like to try growing onions/shallots to pickle.

Please would some kind soul tell me ... 

What varieties are best to use?
When is the right time to plant / sow them?
Could I do any now?

And ideally, how long should they be left stew?

[tim]

Strongly recommend Shallots. But many folk prefer Pearl onions. Different kettle of fish, so to speak?

Plant sets in early spring.

www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/ database/pickledshallots_13699.shtml

[Jesse]

Can highly recommend shallots for pickling, pickled my first shallots this year and they are delish. Will definitely be growing more next year purely for pickling. :)

[Amazin]

I've just picked mine the other day and will be pickling them tonight!!!!!!!  Yippeeeee!!!!  ;D ;D ;D
Ahem! I'm perfectly calm now.
I planted mine late spring. The type?
Poundstretcher -  2 packs of 15 for... er... a quid!

[jennym]

Try Paris silverskin type onions (grow from seed)

[moonbells]

I find the easiest way of growing pickling onions is to use the tiddlers from the main onion harvest! I rarely get uniformly decent sized onions so the ones that aren't much bigger than an inch or so get put to alternative use :)

Though last year I also found 5lbs of picklers for a quid down the local market and there's still two huge jars left. Already ate the shallots and the home-grown picklers.

Pickled a jar of garlic tonight.  It stays wonderfully crunchy...

moonbells

[Mrs Ava]

I use shallots, aggh, can't remember variety, sets planted in the winter along with my garlic and japanese onions.  I don't like them pickled for too long, so 3 to 4 weeks in the vinegar and they are more than ready for me.

[flowerlady]

Here's ignorance for you  - what's a Japanese onion? ???

How late in the season can one plant sets? 

Do the seeds have to wait till spring or will they overwinter?

think I should have stuck to flowers!! ;)

[Mrs Ava]

Not ignorant at all!  Japanese onions are merely onions that do the business over winter and are hardy.  I have just ordered mine from Dobies, along with my garlic.  I plant them out anytime from the end of September until mid November time.  I am not planning on doing shallots this time as the white rot is so bad, from a lot of plantings I only get a few useable bulbs and they tend to be very small as I have to nip them out prematurely. However, shallots would also go in at the same time as the onions and garlics.  As for seeds, I believe you sow them in the open around Christmas time, but there are a lot more experienced onion growers here than I, so I shall hand the baton to one of them!  ;D

[jennym]

I wouldn't call myself an experienced onion grower, but I sow seed of spring onion types incl. japanese bunching virtually all the way up to Christmas, and start again in March, and get a continuous supply.

[moonbells]

For all of those who have white rot, I just read that there's a new onion which is resistant called Golden Bear. Recommended in BBC GW mag September issue.

From the Organic Gardening Catalogue:
   
ONION Golden Bear F1

Extra early maturing with very vigorous growth. Superb globe shaped bulbs weigh 300 grams. Highly tolerant to downy mildew botrytis and white rot. 240 seeds.

moonbells

[flowerlady]

Thank you for all your valuable information people.

Though having seen the photos of the crop harvested by derekthefox I'm now feeling totally intimidated :-[

Hey ho, nothing ventured nothing gained, I'll let you know how I get on! ;)

[Mrs Ava]

ooooooooooooo Moonbells, I shall have to look out for those and give them a whirl!  Thanks for the info!

[Debs]

I had a very good shallot harvest and now feel inspired to pickle some.

What quantities of shallots and what do I  pickle them in ( I know it's

vinegar, but what type and does anything else go in??

Debs 

[Mrs Ava]

Debs, I do enough for a jar, skin them, then put them in a bowl and sprinkle with some salt and leave for a few hours, or overnight....then rise them, bung them in a sterile jar and cover with vinegar of your choice.  Malt I think is traditional, and you can get malt that already has the spice flavour in it without having to add any pickling spices.  I favour white wine or cider, but I am not keen on vinegar, to the sweeter, or milder, or more flavoursome the better for me.  You can add some dry chillis or garlics if you like, and you can buy pots of spice mix to go in pickles at any supermaket.

[tim]

This is our usual one - when we have shallots!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/photo04/pickling.jpg

[Jesse]

Here's my recipe:

1.3kg shallots
50g sea salt (I use coarse salt)
Several cloves
Several blades of mace (I didn't have so used ground mace)
1-2 fresh chillies, halved
400g sugar
1.2 litres white wine vinegar

Trim the tops and bottoms off the onions, but don't overdo it or they will disintegrate in the pickle. Leaving the skins still on, pour boiling water over them and leave to blanch for 20 seconds. Then cover with cold water and peel them under water. This will prevent the surfaces oxidising and toughening up.

Layer the onions in a clean bowl, sprinkling each layer with salt. Cover with a clean cloth and leave overnight. The salt will draw out the moisture, giving a nice crunch to your pickles.

Next day, rinse them well and dry them as thoroughly as possible. Place them in sterilised jars, with two cloves, blade of mace (pinch of ground mace) and half a chilli in each.

Boil up the sugar and vinegar for 1 minute, then pour the hot liquid over the onions. Seal the jars and wait 2-3 weeks before eating.

[Debs]

Tim / Jessevieve,

Two  very nice recipes. I shall dig around in my spice store ( large

Quality Street tin! ) and see what I have.

Debs

[moonbells]

ooooooooooooo Moonbells, I shall have to look out for those and give them a whirl!  Thanks for the info!

You're welcome.

I hope you have better luck than me with growing onions from seed!

moonbells

[flowerlady]

For those who might be interested in 'Spiced' Vinegar I'll post one in Recipes