Pickled Onions

You cant buy these until a couple months before xmas my question is is there any onion you can plant which you can use as the same ie Pickled Onion.

 

Hi Golfer,

I've got quite a few small ones grown from sets that didn't really take off that i'll probably pickle.

Variety wise, the White Lisbon spring onions that have blubbed up now are all a good size for pickling.

 

I pickle shallots instead of onions, using exactly the same method, and find it a lot less fiddly. Unfortunately 99% went to seed this year.

 

Hi Scrungee
I am growing shallots this year which are looking OK , but as a 100% onion growing virgin , what happens when they go to seed . What do I need to look for.

TIA

 

I just typed "100% onion growing virgin" into a search engine & took the safeties off.

Very disappointing.

Hi Harry,

They get a big flower spike going up thru the middle with flowers or bulbils on top.

The flower tube forms in the middle of the blub & will rot, making them no good to store. They are best eaten straight away if that happens.

 

Cheers ziggy , is there anything you can do to minimise the risk of this ?

 

My pleasure Harry,

Yep, make sure they don't dry out, but don't keep them saturated as there is the risk of encouraging onion white rot.

I'm suprised I haven't had more bolt with that drought, only lost 2.

Just tried that search again but ommited "onion growing"

Thats better:party:

 

Unless you've got hundreds of them, then it's best not to eat them all at once and cut them up and freeze.

As I've got about 900 onions growing from the great big free Homebase setts & seed potato giveaway, I'm hoping to pickle some of those:

 

I sowed a packet of 550 Suttons Paris Silverskin about a month back, they are about an inch high now and seem healthy, the packet says 12~14 weeks sowing to cropping, I'm hoping to pickle Oct'ish for crimbo not sure if thats long enough in the jar or not, but I'm sure they'll taste fine after a few crimbo beers

Plant Potty.

 

I have tried and tried Ziggy to think of an onion joke reply , but can't think of one . So that's shallott :DOH:

 

I grow Silverskin for pickling. Usually about 300 per season, which gives me 10 medium jars. They'll be up in about 2-3 weeks time when they're all roughly half a golf ball size.
They need a minimum of 3 months in the jar before eating to ensure they're all pickled. Sarsons make pickling vinegar that you can use neat, or make your own. The Sarsons is pretty good though, and even better with a few chillies thrown into the jar too.