Hi Do you have to buy special onions to pickle for them to be small or just pull them up early?
Dont know but silverskin onion seeds are easy to find.
You can use 'ordinary' or 'silverskin' ones - depending upon the density of flavour & colour that you like - but you would plant/sow them V close to save space?
But, to me, it's heresy to waste the potential of an onion when shallots are so much nicer. (I think!)
For me it has to be shallots. And make up your own pickling vinegar-far nicer than the bought stuff.
And let it get cold before you pickle the onions if you want them to stay crisp
Agree!!
I'm another who used shallots. Took a home made jar down to Devon to enjoy with the olds, but they hid them and kept forgetting to get them out, then scoffed them when we had come home!! Family huh. ::)
Shallots here too, you get many more bulbs for the same amount of effort...
I brought some red skined shallots but i'll go and buy some white now for me to pickle. Last year my onions didn't grow very big so I pickled them instead.
We grow shallots for pickling and any small onions are used for pickling too.The good sized onions are dried then put into tights!!!! then hung up in the shed.Put an onion in then tie a knot then put another in and so on.I have only got 8 legs left ;D ;D :o :o
Your shed must be very scary at twilight billy ;)
Wizard wheeze!
*Sigh*
Shallots for pickling?
Another things to add to my 'to grow' list. ::)
The neighbours think of got some kind of weird fetish :o :o
On a similar theme;
If I end up with any onions with 'thick necks' I quite often chop these up (because they don't store very well) and either freeze them or pickle them. The frozen ones are used in stir fries, stews & soups. The pickled one are lovely with Fish & Chips
Bet you're glad when the tights come down in your house then silly billy ;)
(Sorry, couldn't resist, it's an in joke in our house..., i'm getting my coat as we speak ... ::))
Quote from: kitten on February 04, 2007, 17:44:59
Bet you're glad when the tights come down in your house then silly billy ;)
(Sorry, couldn't resist, it's an in joke in our house..., i'm getting my coat as we speak ... ::))
:o ;D ;D
We do have to make sure no one calls around when we are stuffing the legs with onions.We sit there doing it in the living room.
Quote from: silly billy on February 04, 2007, 18:26:44
Quote from: kitten on February 04, 2007, 17:44:59
Bet you're glad when the tights come down in your house then silly billy ;)
(Sorry, couldn't resist, it's an in joke in our house..., i'm getting my coat as we speak ... ::))
:o ;D ;D
We do have to make sure no one calls around when we are stuffing the legs with onions.We sit there doing it in the living room.
Just to clarify thats sit there stuffing the legs ;) ;) ;)
Glad to hear it ;)
Last year was my first and I had a fair few onions started from seed with nowhere to stick them in my master plan. Instead I planted them in a grid 10cms apart and then pickled the lot, and they knocked the spots off anything you could get in the shops. They were Bedfordshire Champion I think. Save the shallots for stews!
Jon