Garlic and Black Pepper Pickled Onions – Technique of the Week!

I’ve never pickled anything before but I love pickled onion, beetroot and gherkins! It’s about time I learnt how to make them myself! I don’t eat them enough to count this as a money saving exercise but I do like the feeling of satisfaction it brings to create your own food and know exactly what is in it.

I felt a little silly this weekend when I set out my ingredients and thought “I’m looking forward to some pickled onions with my lunch tomorrow”…then I read the recipe and realised that onions don’t get pickled over night! These take 1-2 months before they are ready to eat. So I’m looking forward to eating pickled onions with my lunch next month 🙂

Peeled shallots ready for pickling

Since this is something I have never tried before I followed this recipe from the BBC Good Food. The method was very simple but needs a little patience. First soak the onions, I chose shallots and small red pickling onions, in boiling water and leave it to cool. This makes it incredibly easy to peel the skins off, just slice each end off once soaked and then either peel the skin off or squeeze one end and the shallot will pop out.

Then place the onions in a bowl and salt them lightly and leave over night. In the morning you have to rinse them well and then pat dry ready to be pickled.

The pickling liquid is a very simple combination of malt vinegar and honey. I used sugar instead because I did not have any honey so I’m hoping this doesn’t affect the flavour too much, I assume it was just a sweetness needed.

When we were having a chat with our friend I happened to mention I was making pickled onions which led to an enthusiastic comparison of our favourite pickled items and he mentioned that he puts a red chilli in with his pickling liquid. When you eat the onions you get a warm heat mixed with the pickled flavour.

I’m too cautious (and a bit chicken) to add a chilli but it got me thinking about flavours I could try instead, I love garlic so this was an absolute must! We also decided that black pepper could be good to add some heat without the chilli burn.

I added 4 garlic cloves to one jar and I didn’t have any peppercorns so I ground pepper in to the vinegar of the other jar. In 1-2 months I will post again with the verdict on the recipe and the taste!

What is your favourite pickled vegetable? Any suggestions on what I should pickle next? I’d love to hear any unusual suggestions as well as the good classics!