Pickled Onions - 2023 Edition

As the pickled onions I've made each year since 2020 have been so popular, I've been looking out for the pickling onions coming into season to do them again. 

At the market a couple of weeks ago I picked up 3lb of them for £2, the same price as last year. They are now pickling and will be ready to eat in another 3 weeks or so.

As before, I followed Linda Ziedrich's "Joy of Pickling" recipe for "British Pub Pickled Onions".

Here they all are in a big bowl.

Firstly they were brined for 24 hours in 2l of water to which I added 1/2 cup of salt. A couple of upside-down plates over the top kept them submerged in the brine.

After draining came the arduous part - peeling them. A quick blanching in boiling water loosened the skins a little to make them easier to peel.

They were put in a second batch of brine as before for another 2 days before draining, rinsing and draining again.

I heated 1l of  malt vinegar with 4 tbsp of sugar dissolve it. I packed the onions into 3 jars layering with some sliced bay leaves, allspice and chilli flakes and poured the vinegar over.

I made some labels, but they are hard to put on jars the shape of mine so the labelling has come out a bit wonky. 

But never mind, they'll be ready to eat by Christmas and will all get eaten over the next few  months after that. Meanwhile I have 1/4 jar left of last year's to keep us going.