The best pickled onions I've ever tasted were home made - they were quite sweet but also spicy. Anyone out there have a tasty recipe?

A little tip. Rather than peeling all the onions I bring a pan to the boil, chuck the onions in whole. Then boil for 3 mins. Take out and cool in cold water. I then just cut off the stalk at the bottom and squeeze from the top end. The onion just pops out and no tears. Experiment with the timing but no longer than 3 mins or they go too soft. I would send you my recipe but the juice makes you pull a face but boy are they good!

my recipe:
4 pints malt vinegar
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
1oz crushed ginger
1oz all spice berries
1 oz whole black peppercorns
1/4 oz bruised nutmeg
8 cloves
All you do is boil all of above together for 5 mins and then pour over your onions in the sterilized jars. Scale up or down as req. This gets better with age. I made mine last month for xmas. Last year everyone raved about them, not my invention I go it off the net. Try googling recipezaar. Enjoy!

If you check out Delia (the original one) on Line she has recipes for 'Pickled Shallots in Sherry Vinegar' - plus a number of chutneys, eg. 'Spiced Damson Chutney' - and we all love Delia! (I've met her - she's brilliant!!!)

MY BROTHER BILLY'S RECIPE
Shallots
cheap malt vinegar (pennies in asda!)
few dried chillies, 1-2 per jar ....depends on you!
cumin 1tsp per jar
coriander seeds 1 tsp per jar.
sugar 1 tbsp per jar
give them a shake. put lids back on jars and wait at least 3 months.
WOW!
wonderful with colliers cheddar or similar.

Make a sweet vinegar with cider vinegar (less harsh), honey (clear and runny) and spices like cumin seeds, coriander seeds, fresh ginger (fish this out before bottling), dried chilli flakes, green cardomons (smashed to release their seeds), mustard seeds and black peppercorns - bring to the boil and leave to cool down and infuse before pouring over small onions or shallots which have been topped and tailed then plunged into boiling water for 30 seconds and then plunged into cold water, this makes them easier to peel and keeps them crisp! Hope you enjoy them whichever you make! Another good recipe for Xmas pickles is sliced oranges in a sweet and spiced syrup (similar to above but using sugar instead of honey - leave out the ginger and mustard seeds and be sparing with the black pepper, also leave out the chilli as you want this sweet and spicy but not too hot. Distilled vinegar is good for this. Absolutely delicious with cold meats and jacket potatoes on Boxing Day!

Our Favourite
Ingredient Quantity
Onions 2 Large White
White wine vinegar 200 ml
Chilli (green) 2 slit with a knife to let flavour out but not the seeds
Mustard seeds 1 tsp
tumeric 0.5 tsp
cloves 1
Sugar (Brown Castor) 100 g
Ginger a few shavings
Slice the onions about 0.5cm thick, If they are too thick they'll take too long to salt, if they are too thin they will not have any crunch. Separate the onions into rings and put them in a bowl, add 2 tbsp of salt flakes and leave for about 20mins until they go floppy and give off some liquid. Rinse and squeeze dry then put them back in a clean bowl. Put the vinegar, chilies, spices sugar and ginger in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and simmer for a minute or so to extract the flavour. Pour over the onions, leave to cool.

We use them as soon as they are cool!

Matthew's Pickled Onions
Pickling Onions - amount to suit your requirements
Sarson's Spiced Pickling Vinegar (malted (brown in colour) if you want brown onions or clear vinegar if not) - amount to suit your requirements
Whole black pepper corns
Mustard seeds
Whole dried or fresh chillies - As many as YOU like or can handle, can miss them if you want
Caster sugar - optional
Salt - (4Kg of salt per 10Kg of onions)

Peel the onions (outdoors unless you want your house to smell for a week!) place the peeled onions in a large container (I use a clean plastic storage crate) and cover with the salt (I used 4Kg of salt to 10Kg of onions!). Cover and leave for 24 hours to allow the salt to draw the water out of the onions (essential for a good crunchy onion that keeps).
24 hours later (or there about)............
Prepare the jars (making sure to sterilise them first by baking in a low oven) place a tsp (or to your taste, I always do it by eye and have big eyes!) of pepper corns, mustard seeds and the chillies into the sterile jars and then leave to one side.
Pour away the salty slurry covering the onions and run the onions under a cold running tap to remove the last of the salt. Pat the onions dry using tea towels and then pack the onions in the prepared jars, leave a little bit of room right at the top for the lid and floatation!
Pour the spiced vinegar over the onions right to the top of the jar and then add a good sprinkle of caster sugar (optional, I think it makes the onion a little sweeter and takes a little of the heat from the chillies away).
Seal the jars and place in a cupboard until ready, normally three months (I make mine in September when the onions become available and then open at Christmas) they keep for months and months.
This recipe does make some devilishly hot and spicy onions but I've never had any complaints....................just requests for more!

I like to eat them on their own or if I really want a treat, sliced in a sandwich with thick slices of mature cheddar...............heaven!

500ml white wine or chardonay vinegar
500g of soft light brown sugar
3 cloves
3 cloves of garlic
salt/pepper
rosemary and thyme

bring all the above ingredients up to boil and pour over onions in sterilised kilner jars

Soak the onions in salt water for 24 hrs before pickling, add teaspoon picling spice and a couple of dried chillies. plus a teaspoon of sugar ans enjoy! from Sue

hi i have just made my own pickled onions about 4 weeks ago an i have noticed they have started going brown is this normal? i tried one and it tasted ok but i am not sure if 2 eat them or not!? thanks!

Hey, my book Jams and Chutneys has a brilliant recipe!! I would say that I know but the sweet chilli pickled onions really are good.
Thane PrinceJams and Chutneys: Preserving the Harvest, Over 150 Recipes