Pickled Onions – Tears of joy

Pickled Onions

It was an impulse purchase. I was just in my local supermarket getting some essentials, when I saw a bag of pickling onions. It wasn't a big bag, but its teeny, tiny oniony contents, draped seductively next to their larger, brutish red and white cousins, beckoned me over with a vampish grin (I think I really need to step away from this blog for a bit). Before I knew it I was on my internet phone looking up pickling vinegar, jars and spices, and standing in the queue for eight items or less behind some Doris stocking up on tinned tuna and toffee (I'm also sure she had 10 items, but I let it pass just this once). I realise that along with my Christmas beer and pork pies, pickled onions almost completes the set of British pub classics. All I need is a recipe for pork scratchings and I'm set for a one-man lock-in.

Ingredients:
1kg pickling onions, peeled
4 tsp pickling spices or ½tsp coriander seeds, ½tsp mustard seed, ½tsp black peppercorns, ½tsp dried chilli flakes
27g salt
1 litre malt vinegar
170g sugar

Method:
1. Sprinkle the salt over the peeled onions, stir and leave overnight. Next day (do not leave longer than overnight if you want your onions to be crisp) rinse the onions and dry with kitchen towel.
2. Place the spices, vinegar and sugar into a large stainless-steel pan. Heat to dissolve the sugar, but do not boil.
3. Pack the onions into clean, sterilised jars. Pour over the vinegar and spice liquid to fill the jars, make sure each jar has pickling spices in and check there are no air pockets. Seal the jars and leave to cool. The onions will be ready to eat after about one month or better if kept for two. Once opened store in a refrigerator.