Pickling

[graham]

Mentioning food culture in the pease pudding thread brought to mind my
experiences in trying to find the spice blend to pickle onions. Large
numbers of Ukranians and Poles settled on the Canadian Prairies and
their favourite is pickled cucumbers, essentially very large gherkins.
The spice blend is dominated by dill and this is widely available but
the onion blend is not.
I tried making my own blend but without success and bought several
packets of pickling spice for onions when visiting the UK.

Incidentally, recipes always involve brining the onions before pickling.
My Mother never did and hers were legendary. I used to take large jars
(ex-sweet jars from the sweet shop) of them back to uni and friends
looked forward to eating them after a boozy night out. One friend
persuaded his wife to make some and they followed a brining recipe with
disastrous results. The onions were soft and squishy, not crisp like my
Mother's. She just made the pickling medium by heating the spices and
vinegar together and then, after cooling, pouring it into the jars of
onions. One of her sisters used to add a few extra chillies to each jar.
I follow her method.

[Brian Reay]

Post by graham
Mentioning food culture in the pease pudding thread brought to mind my
experiences in trying to find the spice blend to pickle onions. Large
numbers of Ukranians and Poles settled on the Canadian Prairies and
their favourite is pickled cucumbers, essentially very large gherkins.
The spice blend is dominated by dill and this is widely available but
the onion blend is not.
I tried making my own blend but without success and bought several
packets of pickling spice for onions when visiting the UK.
Incidentally, recipes always involve brining the onions before pickling.
My Mother never did and hers were legendary. I used to take large jars
(ex-sweet jars from the sweet shop) of them back to uni and friends
looked forward to eating them after a boozy night out. One friend
persuaded his wife to make some and they followed a brining recipe with
disastrous results. The onions were soft and squishy, not crisp like my
Mother's. She just made the pickling medium by heating the spices and
vinegar together and then, after cooling, pouring it into the jars of
onions. One of her sisters used to add a few extra chillies to each jar.
I follow her method.

I've used a trace of garlic and some fennel for both Onions and Cucumber.

We've some cucumbers in the greenhouse at the moment but, while I
planned to pickle some, the yield hasn't been enough to meet the needs
of salads and pickling. (We've been eating a lot of them fresh recently-
partly as we've had a lot of visitors.)

I've not tried chillies, 'senior management' isn't overly keen on them.
I have to use them very sparingly. Waving them near the dish is
sometimes too much.

I've tried 'cold pickling' cucumbers- you need to store in the fridge
after making. The taste isn't as 'developed' but they are ready to eat
within 24 hrs. I used a recipe of YouTube. As I recall, it was just
fennel and a basic pickling mix.

Pickled eggs are another (UK) Northern thing. Quite a strong taste,
popular with beer drinkers ;-)

[graham]

Post by Brian Reay

Post by graham
Mentioning food culture in the pease pudding thread brought to mind my
experiences in trying to find the spice blend to pickle onions. Large
numbers of Ukranians and Poles settled on the Canadian Prairies and
their favourite is pickled cucumbers, essentially very large gherkins.
The spice blend is dominated by dill and this is widely available but
the onion blend is not.
I tried making my own blend but without success and bought several
packets of pickling spice for onions when visiting the UK.
Incidentally, recipes always involve brining the onions before
pickling. My Mother never did and hers were legendary. I used to take
large jars (ex-sweet jars from the sweet shop) of them back to uni and
friends looked forward to eating them after a boozy night out. One
friend persuaded his wife to make some and they followed a brining
recipe with disastrous results. The onions were soft and squishy, not
crisp like my Mother's. She just made the pickling medium by heating
the spices and vinegar together and then, after cooling, pouring it
into the jars of onions. One of her sisters used to add a few extra
chillies to each jar.
I follow her method.

I've used a trace of garlic and some fennel for both Onions and Cucumber.
We've some cucumbers in the greenhouse at the moment but, while I
planned to pickle some, the yield hasn't been enough to meet the needs
of salads and pickling. (We've been eating a lot of them fresh recently-
partly as we've had a lot of visitors.)
I've not tried chillies, 'senior management' isn't overly keen on them.
I have to use them very sparingly. Waving them near the dish is
sometimes too much.
I've tried 'cold pickling' cucumbers- you need to store in the fridge
after making. The taste isn't as 'developed' but they are ready to eat
within 24 hrs. I used a recipe of YouTube. As I recall, it was just
fennel and a basic pickling mix.
Pickled eggs are another (UK) Northern thing. Quite a strong taste,
popular with beer drinkers ;-)

In Sheffield, pubs used to allow people to come in and sell small
packets of shrimps, whelks etc. No wonder, they were steeped in strong
vinegar encouraging thirst:-)

[Brian Reay]

Post by graham

Post by Brian Reay

Post by graham
Mentioning food culture in the pease pudding thread brought to mind
my experiences in trying to find the spice blend to pickle onions.
Large numbers of Ukranians and Poles settled on the Canadian Prairies
and their favourite is pickled cucumbers, essentially very large
gherkins. The spice blend is dominated by dill and this is widely
available but the onion blend is not.
I tried making my own blend but without success and bought several
packets of pickling spice for onions when visiting the UK.
Incidentally, recipes always involve brining the onions before
pickling. My Mother never did and hers were legendary. I used to take
large jars (ex-sweet jars from the sweet shop) of them back to uni
and friends looked forward to eating them after a boozy night out.
One friend persuaded his wife to make some and they followed a
brining recipe with disastrous results. The onions were soft and
squishy, not crisp like my Mother's. She just made the pickling
medium by heating the spices and vinegar together and then, after
cooling, pouring it into the jars of onions. One of her sisters used
to add a few extra chillies to each jar.
I follow her method.

I've used a trace of garlic and some fennel for both Onions and Cucumber.
We've some cucumbers in the greenhouse at the moment but, while I
planned to pickle some, the yield hasn't been enough to meet the needs
of salads and pickling. (We've been eating a lot of them fresh
recently- partly as we've had a lot of visitors.)
I've not tried chillies, 'senior management' isn't overly keen on
them. I have to use them very sparingly. Waving them near the dish is
sometimes too much.
I've tried 'cold pickling' cucumbers- you need to store in the fridge
after making. The taste isn't as 'developed' but they are ready to eat
within 24 hrs. I used a recipe of YouTube. As I recall, it was just
fennel and a basic pickling mix.
Pickled eggs are another (UK) Northern thing. Quite a strong taste,
popular with beer drinkers ;-)

In Sheffield, pubs used to allow people to come in and sell small
packets of shrimps, whelks etc. No wonder, they were steeped in strong
vinegar encouraging thirst:-)

It was to mask the taste of Yorkshire beer ;-)

[graham]

Post by Brian Reay

Post by graham

Post by Brian Reay

Post by graham
Mentioning food culture in the pease pudding thread brought to mind
my experiences in trying to find the spice blend to pickle onions.
Large numbers of Ukranians and Poles settled on the Canadian
Prairies and their favourite is pickled cucumbers, essentially very
large gherkins. The spice blend is dominated by dill and this is
widely available but the onion blend is not.
I tried making my own blend but without success and bought several
packets of pickling spice for onions when visiting the UK.
Incidentally, recipes always involve brining the onions before
pickling. My Mother never did and hers were legendary. I used to
take large jars (ex-sweet jars from the sweet shop) of them back to
uni and friends looked forward to eating them after a boozy night
out. One friend persuaded his wife to make some and they followed a
brining recipe with disastrous results. The onions were soft and
squishy, not crisp like my Mother's. She just made the pickling
medium by heating the spices and vinegar together and then, after
cooling, pouring it into the jars of onions. One of her sisters used
to add a few extra chillies to each jar.
I follow her method.

I've used a trace of garlic and some fennel for both Onions and Cucumber.
We've some cucumbers in the greenhouse at the moment but, while I
planned to pickle some, the yield hasn't been enough to meet the
needs of salads and pickling. (We've been eating a lot of them fresh
recently- partly as we've had a lot of visitors.)
I've not tried chillies, 'senior management' isn't overly keen on
them. I have to use them very sparingly. Waving them near the dish is
sometimes too much.
I've tried 'cold pickling' cucumbers- you need to store in the fridge
after making. The taste isn't as 'developed' but they are ready to
eat within 24 hrs. I used a recipe of YouTube. As I recall, it was
just fennel and a basic pickling mix.
Pickled eggs are another (UK) Northern thing. Quite a strong taste,
popular with beer drinkers ;-)

In Sheffield, pubs used to allow people to come in and sell small
packets of shrimps, whelks etc. No wonder, they were steeped in strong
vinegar encouraging thirst:-)

It was to mask the taste of Yorkshire beer ;-)

Certainly Tetley's!!!

[Brian Reay]

Post by graham

Post by Brian Reay
It was to mask the taste of Yorkshire beer ;-)

Certainly Tetley's!!!

Indeed.

Some years back, I was visiting the US on business. I was there for some
extended stays and made some friends there (I'm still in contact with
some of them). One group, in Michigan proudly told me they knew of a
'pub' which sold English beer. I'm not a great beer drinker- even then
(I'm going back 30 years or so) but obviously politely went along.

I really didn't have the heart to tell them that Bass and Tetley's isn't
one of our better beers.

[graham]

Post by Brian Reay

Post by graham

Post by Brian Reay
It was to mask the taste of Yorkshire beer ;-)

Certainly Tetley's!!!

Indeed.
Some years back, I was visiting the US on business. I was there for some
extended stays and made some friends there (I'm still in contact with
some of them).  One group, in Michigan proudly told me they knew of a
'pub' which sold English beer. I'm not a great beer drinker- even then
(I'm going back 30 years or so) but obviously politely went along.
I really didn't have the heart to tell them that Bass and Tetley's isn't
one of our better beers.

My experience with Tetley's was that if the publican knew his craft, the
first pint tasted OK. However, the next half always made me feel
nauseous. If he were incompetent, the first sip was sickening, with a
horrible, metallic aftertaste.
I still like Adnam's, but then I am from Suffolk:-)

[Brian Reay]

Post by graham

Post by Brian Reay

Post by graham

Post by Brian Reay
It was to mask the taste of Yorkshire beer ;-)

Certainly Tetley's!!!

Indeed.
Some years back, I was visiting the US on business. I was there for
some extended stays and made some friends there (I'm still in contact
with some of them).  One group, in Michigan proudly told me they knew
of a 'pub' which sold English beer. I'm not a great beer drinker- even
then (I'm going back 30 years or so) but obviously politely went along.
I really didn't have the heart to tell them that Bass and Tetley's
isn't one of our better beers.

My experience with Tetley's was that if the publican knew his craft, the
first pint tasted OK. However, the next half always made me feel
nauseous. If he were incompetent, the first sip was sickening, with a
horrible, metallic aftertaste.
I still like Adnam's, but then I am from Suffolk:-)

Yes, that is a good beer. We visit Aldeburgh from time to time and drive
up to Southwold.

[Kev]

Post by graham
Mentioning food culture in the pease pudding thread brought to mind my
experiences in trying to find the spice blend to pickle onions. Large
numbers of Ukranians and Poles settled on the Canadian Prairies and
their favourite is pickled cucumbers, essentially very large gherkins.
The spice blend is dominated by dill and this is widely available but
the onion blend is not.
I tried making my own blend but without success and bought several
packets of pickling spice for onions when visiting the UK.
Incidentally, recipes always involve brining the onions before pickling.
My Mother never did and hers were legendary. I used to take large jars
(ex-sweet jars from the sweet shop) of them back to uni and friends
looked forward to eating them after a boozy night out. One friend
persuaded his wife to make some and they followed a brining recipe with
disastrous results. The onions were soft and squishy, not crisp like my
Mother's. She just made the pickling medium by heating the spices and
vinegar together and then, after cooling, pouring it into the jars of
onions. One of her sisters used to add a few extra chillies to each jar.
I follow her method.

The pickling spice I use consists of

Whole coriander seed, Yellow mustard seed, Ginger, Cassia, Bay leaves,
Cloves, Whole Allspice (Pimento), Birds eye chillies, Whole Black
Peppercorns

I don't bother boiling it up - I just add a tablespoon or two of the mix
and a couple of dried chilli to each jar before pouring the vinegar over
- it tastes fine if you leave it a few months.

As to brining - I usually just pour over a load of table salt as I peel
them and leave for 24 hours or so, but I have had batches go soft
(disasterous a few years ago when every jar went) - but my guess is that
its something to do with the onions rather than the process.

[graham]

Post by Kev

Post by graham
Mentioning food culture in the pease pudding thread brought to mind my
experiences in trying to find the spice blend to pickle onions. Large
numbers of Ukranians and Poles settled on the Canadian Prairies and
their favourite is pickled cucumbers, essentially very large gherkins.
The spice blend is dominated by dill and this is widely available but
the onion blend is not.
I tried making my own blend but without success and bought several
packets of pickling spice for onions when visiting the UK.
Incidentally, recipes always involve brining the onions before
pickling. My Mother never did and hers were legendary. I used to take
large jars (ex-sweet jars from the sweet shop) of them back to uni and
friends looked forward to eating them after a boozy night out. One
friend persuaded his wife to make some and they followed a brining
recipe with disastrous results. The onions were soft and squishy, not
crisp like my Mother's. She just made the pickling medium by heating
the spices and vinegar together and then, after cooling, pouring it
into the jars of onions. One of her sisters used to add a few extra
chillies to each jar.
I follow her method.

The pickling spice I use consists of
Whole coriander seed, Yellow mustard seed, Ginger, Cassia, Bay leaves,
Cloves, Whole Allspice (Pimento), Birds eye chillies, Whole Black
Peppercorns
I don't bother boiling it up - I just add a tablespoon or two of the mix
and a couple of dried chilli to each jar before pouring the vinegar over
- it tastes fine if you leave it a few months.
As to brining - I usually just pour over a load of table salt as I peel
them and leave for 24 hours or so, but I have had batches go soft
(disasterous a few years ago when every jar went) - but my guess is that
its something to do with the onions rather than the process.

I don't think so. I believe it was the salt!

[Brian Reay]

Post by graham

Post by Kev

Post by graham
Mentioning food culture in the pease pudding thread brought to mind
my experiences in trying to find the spice blend to pickle onions.
Large numbers of Ukranians and Poles settled on the Canadian Prairies
and their favourite is pickled cucumbers, essentially very large
gherkins. The spice blend is dominated by dill and this is widely
available but the onion blend is not.
I tried making my own blend but without success and bought several
packets of pickling spice for onions when visiting the UK.
Incidentally, recipes always involve brining the onions before
pickling. My Mother never did and hers were legendary. I used to take
large jars (ex-sweet jars from the sweet shop) of them back to uni
and friends looked forward to eating them after a boozy night out.
One friend persuaded his wife to make some and they followed a
brining recipe with disastrous results. The onions were soft and
squishy, not crisp like my Mother's. She just made the pickling
medium by heating the spices and vinegar together and then, after
cooling, pouring it into the jars of onions. One of her sisters used
to add a few extra chillies to each jar.
I follow her method.

The pickling spice I use consists of
Whole coriander seed, Yellow mustard seed, Ginger, Cassia, Bay leaves,
Cloves, Whole Allspice (Pimento), Birds eye chillies, Whole Black
Peppercorns
I don't bother boiling it up - I just add a tablespoon or two of the
mix and a couple of dried chilli to each jar before pouring the
vinegar over - it tastes fine if you leave it a few months.
As to brining - I usually just pour over a load of table salt as I
peel them and leave for 24 hours or so, but I have had batches go soft
(disasterous a few years ago when every jar went) - but my guess is
that its something to do with the onions rather than the process.

I don't think so. I believe it was the salt!

Adding Alum (food grade) is supposed to help preserve 'crunch'. I can't
claim to have tried it myself but it seems to be a standard technique.

[Kev]

Post by graham

Post by Kev

Post by graham
Mentioning food culture in the pease pudding thread brought to mind
my experiences in trying to find the spice blend to pickle onions.
Large numbers of Ukranians and Poles settled on the Canadian Prairies
and their favourite is pickled cucumbers, essentially very large
gherkins. The spice blend is dominated by dill and this is widely
available but the onion blend is not.
I tried making my own blend but without success and bought several
packets of pickling spice for onions when visiting the UK.
Incidentally, recipes always involve brining the onions before
pickling. My Mother never did and hers were legendary. I used to take
large jars (ex-sweet jars from the sweet shop) of them back to uni
and friends looked forward to eating them after a boozy night out.
One friend persuaded his wife to make some and they followed a
brining recipe with disastrous results. The onions were soft and
squishy, not crisp like my Mother's. She just made the pickling
medium by heating the spices and vinegar together and then, after
cooling, pouring it into the jars of onions. One of her sisters used
to add a few extra chillies to each jar.
I follow her method.

The pickling spice I use consists of
Whole coriander seed, Yellow mustard seed, Ginger, Cassia, Bay leaves,
Cloves, Whole Allspice (Pimento), Birds eye chillies, Whole Black
Peppercorns
I don't bother boiling it up - I just add a tablespoon or two of the
mix and a couple of dried chilli to each jar before pouring the
vinegar over - it tastes fine if you leave it a few months.
As to brining - I usually just pour over a load of table salt as I
peel them and leave for 24 hours or so, but I have had batches go soft
(disasterous a few years ago when every jar went) - but my guess is
that its something to do with the onions rather than the process.

I don't think so. I believe it was the salt!

As you will - I can only tell my experience - which, as I say, is fine
some years, but not others - even though the same method is used