Rich rarely passes up an opportunity to mention his gherkins. “Look at how magnificent they have grown” he squeaks all summer long. “Behold my giant jar of crisp, pickled gherkins” he boasts whenever I pop round his house for another tedious team meeting.
While it’s true that his gherkins are firm, knobbly and sour enough to make a chef blush, I much prefer to grow and pickle onions, believing that no vegetable tastes as good after a prolonged bath in vinegar than the princely edible allium.
Cracking open a jar of my pickled onions has become a Christmas day tradition, as ritualistic as the pulling of crackers, the flambéing of Christmas pudding and the opening of a bottle of strong, dark beer as soon as breakfast has settled.
So now, with another November pickling safely negotiated, I feel the time is right to share my methods, giving you all the chance of getting one up on Rich and his jar of knobbly gherkins.
A step-by-step guide to pickling onions
1 First, choose your onions
You can use any type of onion (slice them if they’re big) but shallots are the best. Aside from being the ideal size, their gentle sweet flavour works wonderfully when pickling. There are even some varieties that have been specially marked out for their pickling excellence which are available to sow or buy if you look hard enough – take a look at this guide on how to plant onions if you do decide to sow your own. The key attribute for prime onion pickleability is a bullet-like firmness, again something you get from a fresh shallot.
2 Next, peel your onions
You could reach straight for the knife to whip off the brown skins but, for a more precise and easy peel, first soak them for five minutes in a bowl of boiling water and rinse until cool enough to handle. Trim the bare minimum from the tops and bottoms (excess trimming could cause more layers to slip off) and the skins should peel away with ease.
3 Salt your onions
Now roll your bald onions in salt and leave in a bowl overnight, rinsing the salt away in the morning before patting dry. Although this stage is optional, the salt-and-rinse method will extract moisture from within the onion and you will be rewarded with a crisper, crunchier, firmer pickle in the long run. Worth the extra effort.
4 Prepare your pickling vinegar
You could use cider vinegar.
You could use wine vinegar.
You could use clear distilled vinegar for clarity of onion.
Or you could use a combination of all three.
But for the best results use good ol’ dirty brown malt vinegar. You’ll need roughly an equal volume of water to weight of onions – ie 100ml vinegar for every 100g of onions. And you also need 40g white sugar per 100g onions.
Pour the vinegar into a pan and add your sugar and the allaimportant pickling spices. I go for the following:
1 teaspoon mustard seed
1 teaspoon of black pepper
1 bay leaf.
I also produce an extra jar with a teaspoon of dried chilli added, should anyone dare complain that my standard pickle isn’t spicy enough.
Gently heat the vinegar and spices for five to ten minutes (don’t let it boil), stirring to dissolve the sugar, then set aside to cool.
5 Pack your pickles
Now is the time to pack your onions into jars. You’ve sterilised your jars first, yes? If not, wash in hot water and dry in an oven on a low heat. Or chuck them in the dishwasher. Make sure you allow them to cool before the cooled vinegar goes anywhere near the glass.
Place the onions into the jar leaving as little space between them as possible (think like a dry-stone-waller and build layers of onions according to size and shape). Fill with the pickling vinegar, including the spices (although I always remove the bay leaf), until the onions are covered. Seal the jar and store somewhere cool and dark, six weeks being an optimum minimum length of time (but don’t worry if you need to eat them sooner).
Pickle perfection is as easy as that. Enjoy.
To take a gander at Rich’s gherkins and learn how he pickles them, head on over to this page
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FAQs
You'll need roughly an equal volume of water to weight of onions – ie 100ml vinegar for every 100g of onions. And you also need 40g white sugar per 100g onions. 1 bay leaf. I also produce an extra jar with a teaspoon of dried chilli added, should anyone dare complain that my standard pickle isn't spicy enough.
Do you soak onions in salt water before pickling? ›
I always like to salt and soak the onions before pickling. This gets rid of the harsh 'bite' that often makes raw-onions unappetizing. Soaking them for a short time in hot water softens the onions slightly, priming them for quicker, more thorough absorption of the vinegar brine.
What does soaking onions in vinegar do? ›
You can get rid of the strong taste by soaking sliced onions in ice water for 20 to 30 minutes or by sprinkling them with an acid such as vinegar. Onions soaked in ice water will get very crisp while those sprinkled with vinegar will soften a bit, but they will lose the strong taste and become sweeter.
What kind of vinegar is best for pickles? ›
Most pickle recipes call for distilled white vinegar. This is the clear, colorless vinegar made by fermenting grains. It has a mellow aroma, tart acid flavor and does not affect the color of light-colored vegetables or fruits.
When pickling onions, do you refrigerate them? ›
Set aside to cool to room temperature, then store the onions in the fridge. Your pickled onions will be ready to eat once they're bright pink and tender - about 1 hour for very thinly sliced onions, or overnight for thicker sliced onions. They will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Why boil vinegar before pickling? ›
You take all of your ingredients, apart from the product that is being pickled, and bring them to a boil. The heating process helps activate the flavors in the brine and marry them together. This hot brine is then poured over what is to be pickled and then stored in the refrigerator.
How long do you soak onions in salt water? ›
Wait 10 minutes, then serve. The salt softens the onion's fibrous texture and mellows the sharpness of their flavor. There are other ways to tame raw onion, of course. You could soak slices in lemon juice for 20 minutes, which lends a slightly pickled flavor, as in this Tomato and Herb Salad with Sumac.
How long do pickled onions last in vinegar? ›
Pour over the warm vinegar and seal. Cool, then chill and leave to pickle for 2 hrs. Will keep for 6 months unopened, or 2 weeks in the fridge once opened.
What does adding baking soda to onions do? ›
Baking soda makes the onions more alkaline, which speeds up the browning reactions necessary for properly caramelized onions. But it also weakens the pectin that holds the onion's cells together, turning what should be soft but distinct pieces of browned onion into a nauseating stew of pea-green mush.
Is white vinegar better than apple cider vinegar for pickles? ›
Because apple cider vinegar is made from apples rather than barley, corn rice or wine, it gives pickles a mellower taste. Using a white distilled vinegar, for example, will create a harsher flavour. But as well as being gentler on your palate, using apple cider vinegar also adds health benefits to pickles.
Now, don't confuse distilled with basic white vinegar, which is stronger and has up to 25% acetic acid. That vinegar is sold exclusively for cleaning purposes and is not a good idea to ingest. However, beyond cooking, distilled white vinegar can be used for many of the same household chores.
What is the ratio of white vinegar to water for pickles? ›
The basic ratio for quick pickles is 1:1 vinegar to water, and includes some combination of salt and sugar. Another ratio that is commonly followed is the 3:2:1 method, using three parts vinegar, two parts water, and 1 part sugar.
Why do pickled onions go bad? ›
Temperature, light, and humidity can all affect how long your home-canned pickled onions last, so be sure to store them somewhere that is dark and dry with a cool, even temperature. Fluctuations that can lead to freezing or overheating will cause them to go bad prematurely, so choose your storage location carefully.
Do you need to dry onions before pickling? ›
Now roll your bald onions in salt and leave in a bowl overnight, rinsing the salt away in the morning before patting dry. Although this stage is optional, the salt-and-rinse method will extract moisture from within the onion and you will be rewarded with a crisper, crunchier, firmer pickle in the long run.
Why do you blanch onions before pickling? ›
Blanch red onions.
This step will help cut the raw onion flavor for those who prefer a milder tasting pickle. If you don't mind the raw flavor of onions, feel free to skip this step. Once the water is at a boil, submerge onions for about 10-15 seconds.
Why soak pickled onions in salt water? ›
Some people choose to soak their onions in a salt water mixture before pickling, but I don't find it necessary. In theory, this step draws out extra moisture to keep the texture of the onions nice and crisp even as they sit in the vinegar mixture.
Should you salt vegetables before pickling? ›
The first step in making pickled vegetables is to allow the clean, cut vegetables to soak in salt or a strong saltwater solution for at least 3 hours, or sometimes overnight. As the vegetables swim in salt, some moisture is drawn from the tissues, which helps to preserve crisp texture through the pickling process.
What happens when you put an onion in salt water? ›
The concentrated salt solution is hypertonic as it has a higher salt concentration compared to the salt concentration of the onion peel cells, This is why the water moves towards the outside till an equilibrium concentration is reached. The process because of which water moves towards the outside is called exosmosis.
What does soaking pickles in salt water do? ›
This salt treatment draws water out of the cucumbers and flavors them, so it's critically important. After layering or mixing in plenty of sea salt, I cover the salted cukes with ice cubes and a tea towel and forget about them for a few hours.
