Pickled Onions

Ingredients:-

2 kg small onions (brown or white, or any mix of brown and white is O.K.)
1.5 litres vinegar (see notes)
Pickling spices. (see notes)
Sugar (see notes)
Salt (see notes)

Notes:-

The vinegar should be at least 6% acidity. Cheap supermarket vinegars do not seem to indicate the acidity on the label, so are probably less than 6%. Almost any mixture of vinegars seem to work well; cider, wine, spirit or malt, depending on preference. Good quality vinegars (7% or above will increase the overall acidity)

The picking spices I use are available in local supermarkets in 15gm or 20gm packs. They consist of several types of peppercorns; black, white, brown and of differing sizes. Also in the pack are some small seed husks, which may be mace. To this I add a cinnamon stick and a few bay leaves, but the choice is up to individual taste.

The sugar is added to take off the sharpness of the acidity of the vinegar and the amount used will vary depending on personal taste.

The salt is used to make a brine to soak the onions and the amount depends on the size of the container used.

Method:-

Skin the onions, removing the outer membranes and any blemishes. Place the onions in a large container (plastic or enamel coated, not metal), cover with water and add salt to make brine. The amount of salt is not critical: I add salt slowly until the water becomes slightly cloudy. Place container in a cool place overnight, to allow the brine to draw out the juices in the onions.

Next morning, pour the vinegar into a heating pan, add the spices and heat slowly until the mix reaches boiling point. Turn the heat down, and, stirring occasionally, simmer until the spices have infused their flavour into the vinegar (test this by smell or, if you can bear it, by tasting; about 20 minutes is enough). Turn off the heat and add 3 tablespoons of granulated white sugar; stir and allow to dissolve. Taste vinegar to see if its acidity is sufficiently reduced for your liking. If acidity is too strong, add 1 tablespoon of sugar and taste again. Repeat until the balance between acidity and sweetness is to you liking. Set aside the vinegar mix and allow to cool to room temperature.

Strain the brine off the onions and rinse onions in fresh water to remove any residual brine. Pack onions tightly into glass containers . The containers should be of the type that can be capped (coffee companies sell their coffee in glass jars with half glass/ half plastic lids, which are ideal), but not sealed, as the vinegar/sugar mix can cause some fermentation and build-up of pressure. Pour the cool vinegar into the containers until all the onions are covered. Don’t be afraid to allow some of the spices to go into the containers; not only is it visually appealing, by where the spices come into contact with an onion, they impart an extra flavour.

Place containers in a safe, cool storage for 4 weeks, after which the onions can be tasted. They should be really good. Enjoy them. If you feel they have not sufficiently absorbed the spiced vinegar (i.e, still taste like ordinary onions), then leave another 2 weeks and try again. However, they have a limited lifespan, and will start to go soft if kept too long, although this can be increased by refrigeration. 8 months is probably the limit, when stored at 20 deg C or less.

Remember this:- pickled onions made to this recipe are quite aggressively acid (unless you add heaps of sugar), so they should not be eaten with other strong-tasting foods ( i.e. blue cheese) The flavours will conflict. A more bland cheese and unsalted biscuits are more suitable.

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