Topic: Why do my pickled onions taste yuk

[kt.]

First time pickling onions. Pickled some shallots 3 months ago. 2/3rd white pickling vinegar 1/3rd water, boiled, sugar added, sealed.

Opened a jar yesterday - onions are a little discoloured at the ends - some dark brown. Don't taste or look like those in the shop. Very crunchy though so that's good. Don't taste pickled to me.

What went wrong or is this normal. (PS. I have no problems with pickling beetroot).

[sarah]

hmmm i may be wrong and i am sure i will be put right but i dont usually put water in with the vinegar.  are you following a recipe? maybe they just need some more time to mature. :)

[Pumper]

This my recipe, I can't remember where I got it, but I have never ever tasted a better pickled onion when I do them this way - the ginger and cinnamon are just luvverly:

Apart from the onions you will need:
At least half a kilogram of salt
Two litres of malt vinegar
125 grams of pickling spice
50 grams of root ginger
One cinnamon stick
One bay leaf

Basic Method
Allow plenty of time! A crisp, crunchy pickled onion needs all liquid added to be cold. Spread the task over two or three days.
First make some brine. Take one litre of water and boil it with half a kilo of salt until the salt has dissolved. Put this aside until the mixture is completely cold.
Peel the onions or shallots. Use a very sharp, stainless steel knife to prevent discoloration and remove the skins underwater to save your tears. If the onions are very strong try popping a cube of bread into your mouth.
Submerge the peeled onions in the cold brine. Don't worry if some of the salt has separated itself, just spoon it over the top. Weigh down the onions to make sure they are all covered - a round washing-up bowl with a frying pan lid and a few large books will do the trick.
Leave for at least 24 hours to allow the brine water to penetrate the onions and remove some of their moisture.
Meanwhile, prepare the vinegar. Take a muslin cloth or clean cotton handkerchief and place the pickling spices, ginger, cinnamon stick and bay leaf inside. Close the cloth with string and tie around a wooden spoon so that you can stop it from sinking too far.
Put the malt vinegar into the pan, add two small, peeled onions, a tablespoon of salt and the spice parcel. Bring the vinegar to the boil and boil for five minutes. A word of advice here - the boiling vinegar does not only smell quite strong it also removes oxygen from the air, so make sure that you open windows or doors and take care if you suffer from asthma.
After five minutes, turn off the heat, take out the spice bag and put the vinegar somewhere to cool (but not in the fridge!). One advantage of preparing this in the autumn is that it can safely stay outside overnight if covered.
Rinse the onions well and pack into the jars. Pour over the cold vinegar so that all the onions are covered but take care not to overfill the jar if using screw tops. Seal and place in a cool place. If possible leave for at least a week before eating.

[silly billy]

Did you soak them in brine (normally for 24 hours) before putting them in vinegar?

[valmarg]

I think its the water.  I would only use 100% vinegar for pickled onions.

An old Good Housekeeping leaflet I have says "Take care with the brining, which is intended to extract the water that would dilute the vinegar and prevent the pickle keeping."  I think by using a mix of vinegar and water you are putting the water back into the onions, and will end up with soggy pickles, if not fermenting ones.

valmarg

[ipt8]

We have never used anything but vinegar. Mind you there are many different tasting vinegars. I like malt vinegar myself. Mom always used malt vinegar but found it a bit tart and would add two saccarines to each jar, and they tasted good.

We just peel the onions and put em in the vinegar in a sealed jar, leave em a while till they ave taken in thevinegar and bobs your uncle.

[cambourne7]

Hi KT,

If you have a morrisons near you they are selling bags of pickeling onions for 99p why not try another lot just vinegar and compare. Maybe having added the water yours need a little longer to mature?

Cambourne7

[silverbirch]

I chuck a load of salt over the top overnight, then rinse and just use pure vinegar.  All the alliums have been badly affected by moulds this year, so that might have affected them

[katynewbie]

 ???

Could it be the lack of pickling spices? Mum used to make some crackers with a lethal mix of stuff in them. They tasted great but she can't remember what the mix was now!

 :-X

[jennym]

I do pickled onions by first soaking in brine for 24 hrs, then drain, then pour on hot, spiced vinegar. They turn out fine.

[Kendy]

Two litres of malt vinegar
125 grams of pickling spice
50 grams of root ginger
One cinnamon stick
One bay leaf

Surely, this much pickling spice can't be right ?  Schwartz sell pickling spice in 26g boxes containing two individual sachets - this recipe would require best part of 5 boxes therefore.  The recipe on the box says 1 tbs per 600 ml of vinegar i.e 3.33 tbs for 2 litre of vinegar.

[Kendy]

Replying to my own reply......

I made up some spice vinegar using this recipe but used a single sachet of pickling spice (i.e. 13g to around 1.9 litres of vinegar (due to size of pan) and it smelt very strong.

I say followed recipe 'cos when the vinegar had boiled and finished, I found the ginger I had forgotten to put in the muslin bag !  ::)

Speaking of muslin - have you tried buying this ?  Had to go to Lakeland in the finish as couldn't find anywhere else selling it.

[Sholls]

Speaking of muslin - have you tried buying this ?  Had to go to Lakeland in the finish as couldn't find anywhere else selling it.

eBay is worth a look.   :)

[daxzen]

your recipe is on the bbc website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A655535

its for 5 kg of onions

dax

[macmac]

Speaking of muslin - have you tried buying this ?  Had to go to Lakeland in the finish as couldn't find anywhere else selling it.

eBay is worth a look.   :)

I got  square metre of muslin for £1.99 at my local Dunelm think of how many spice bags you could make out of that :o
i bought it to strain wine

[Kendy]

your recipe is on the bbc website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A655535

its for 5 kg of onions

dax

Couldn't see where it said 5k but that might explain the spice quantities

Good tip re muslin - never thought about fabric suppliers - didn't realise it did not have to be specifically for cooking.