pickled onions

**lottie dolly** · 07-02-2009, 12:56 AM

hi silverskin i believe are small white ones,and shallots are also pickled,i was going to try some of mine,but,they get my eyes a hellof a lot worse than cooking ones,have read somewhere,peel/prepare them under water,some say salt them first,i decided not to bother,as not doing all that bother,got enough to do,come to think of it,so have you lol.
get your neighbours to save pickle,chutneys and mayo jars,as these have better acid seals on the lids,

**lynda66** · 07-02-2009, 01:09 AM

i shall get on to the neighbours and freecycle in the morning

..... i think they had shallots in wilkies and possibly poundtretchers, i may go for some sets for those, i'm still waiting for last summers onions to start swelling, if i waited for seeds i don't think i'll ever get pickles lol

so silverskins are basically just immature onions??

**lottie dolly** · 07-02-2009, 01:35 AM

i stand to be corrected if am wrong,but i think there is a possibility of your onions going to seed when growth starts again,just keep an eye out for the developing seed pod on a long stalk,if they do,perhaps they might be a suitable size for pickling,and leave some as an experiment,for your own seed,am sure some body will be along to either confirm,or shoot me down in flames lol,
just had a thought lynda,read on a previouse thread about onion white rot,and a possible conection with where your going,have little search,then a good look before you buy,

**lynda66** · 07-02-2009, 01:41 AM

wouldn't surprise me lol, not much else has gone right so far ...... i planted them about july, but they are still really thin, mind you i thought the snow would have killed em, but they keep perking up when it melts, though they have been totally covered in snow for a bit longer this time,.... they're probably dead ......... hope they don't, i've been waiting sooooooooooo long i really want some onions.

i'm starting them off earlier this year, was too late with most things last year, cos only decided to grow veg in may, up till then i was just gonna grow flowers to make the garden pretty......... and now it looks like something after the holocaust.

**lottie dolly** · 07-02-2009, 02:09 AM

i'm in the same position with me leeks,started to pull some as baby ones,i do not want to have to end up composting them,easier to use them now,at least i get more than the price of seeds out of them,and it will free up some ground,
am feeling tired now.

**lynda66** · 07-02-2009, 02:17 AM

i've still got a few leeks too, someone sent me some baby ones last year, as all mine didn't grow ...... was hoping they would get a bit thicker, but i'll be happy to let them seed, cos they are different varieties to the ones i've bought, and i've tried one of each and they are yum

just watching victorian farm, cos i missed it yesterday, then i might have an early night

**bobleponge** · 07-02-2009, 04:22 AM

Lynda, I grew many onions last year and shallots too. I dug them all up and stored and dried etc, but later on in the year when I was clearing the beds, I found a few clumps of decent sized shallots. So I pickled them.
They were just ordinary shallots (I cant remember the variety as I think the originals were given to me anyway) but nothing unusual. They were pickled in the same way as the gherkins (see gherkin thread) and they also taste good. Very easy to do and very crunchy and yummy.

**zazen999** · 07-02-2009, 07:36 AM

Lynda.

I know you are struggling to grow onions/leeks, but your onions and any leeks should have got slightly bigger over the winter. Can I ask if you use ANY fertiliser at all?

I put my really thin onions in a raised bed last august and they are spring onion sized now. If I leave them they will romp away and bulb up by about May/June - but they need a boost of something to get them going. You need a high P fertiliser...I use the growing success one for root veg, and also add Epsom Salts and the good old coffee grounds to my root veg beds.

There's a few threads on NPK in the Growing Techniques section.

**Two_Sheds** · 07-02-2009, 07:49 AM

'Paris Silverskin'

An excellent multi purpose onion: grow & eat as a Spring Onion or allow to grow on and mature for a fine crop of small pure white onions perfect for pickling

These really are gorgeously sweet and highly recommended. http://www.unwins.co.uk/pickling-oni...s-pid1199.html

di · 07-02-2009, 08:41 AM

Last year I just planted my excess sets(sorry can't remember what they wer other than white!

....this year everything will be written in my journal!).....anyway I planted them in a row really close together so as to not give them much growing space....once thet'd done their growing....perfect size for pickling.(not sure if this is supposed to work or if we were just lucky?)

**kentvegplot** · 07-02-2009, 09:46 AM

Pickled shallots last season, and the famil raved about them! I still have some in store so I might do another batch to keep us going.

I would say if you struggling with onions, try growing shallots - pretty much foolproof.

**SarzWix** · 07-02-2009, 09:53 AM

Buy Onion Brown Pickling SY 300 Seeds online from Suttons

Buy Onion Paris Silverskin Seeds online from Suttons

We've got both of these for this year, I like the sound of them - just sow & leave, no thinning or transplanting required. You get a lot of seeds per pack too, so quite cheap.

**gojiberry** · 07-02-2009, 10:52 AM

Just a quick word on salting before pickling. The reason for salting is to reduce the amount of water in the item to be pickled, thus ensuring a crunchier veg. However if you are going to eat them fairly quickly then salting doesn't matter so much.

Ian

**lynda66** · 07-02-2009, 11:24 AM

Originally posted by zazen999 View Post

Lynda.

I know you are struggling to grow onions/leeks, but your onions and any leeks should have got slightly bigger over the winter. Can I ask if you use ANY fertiliser at all?

I put my really thin onions in a raised bed last august and they are spring onion sized now. If I leave them they will romp away and bulb up by about May/June - but they need a boost of something to get them going. You need a high P fertiliser...I use the growing success one for root veg, and also add Epsom Salts and the good old coffee grounds to my root veg beds.

There's a few threads on NPK in the Growing Techniques section.

ermmmmmm fertilizer ...... erm actually now you come to mention it

i shall go out forthwith and purchase some of the aforementioned stuff lol ....... i did stick some on the tomatoes and the courgettes lol

my 5 trays of leeks and onions have ALL come up this year though, so may actually do more than stick em in and see what happens lol.

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