Monday 6 August 2012

Ultra-easy Pickled Shallots

My shallots had finished drying, so the time had come to pickle them...


(Reminder: I had 1.2kg of "Longor" shallots available)


The first task was to peel the shallots. Easy enough, but very boring. It took me about an hour!



Unfortunately I did have to discard a few (about 10), which had gone soft. They smelled really unpleasant! However, the vast majority were fine. I had kept a dozen or so of the best ones for other culinary purposes, so I ended up with just about a kilo (2.2 lbs) of veg.

I put the shallots in a large mixing-bowl and smothered them in a large amount of salt, mixing them about with my hands to ensure that they were all well coated. Then I covered the bowl with clingfilm and left it to stand overnight. This part of the process (called "dry brining") extracts excess moisture, making for crisper pickles in due course.


Next day I rinsed the salt from the shallots, dried them on a clean tea-towel and packed them into cold, but sterilised jars.

Then it was simply a matter of filling the jars with pickling vinegar. For this ultra-easy 'recipe' I took the easy option and bought ready-made pickling vinegar, but you could of course make your own, adding whatever spices you like. I put a couple of pieces of chilli in each of my jars, more for the visual effect than for anything else, but I daresay they may add a little bit of extra zing...


When sealing the jars, check what type of lids you have. If they are not ones that already have a waxed cardboard inner liner, it's advisable to put a piece of clingfilm over the jar before putting the lid on. This stops the metal lid coming into contact with the vinegar, which could cause it to corrode. Or you could just use plastic lids...


Now for perhaps the most difficult part of the pickling process: allow to mature for at least a month! They will probably be at their best at about two months, and beginning to be a bit past it at six. They'll be nice with some strong Cheddar cheese...

18 comments:

  1. We shall follow this to the letter as it looks a good solution to our glut of shallots I like the chilli aspect

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A glut, David? How many did you grow? I'd dearly love to have a glut!

      Delete
  2. I'm always very wary of the instructions to salt things before pickling as we don't really like salty food. Do the pickles have a strong taste of salt?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sue; I will not know for a month or so! But, I'm pretty sure that the shallots will not taste salty, since I rinsed them very well.

      Delete
    2. Hi, in reply to your question no they do not taste at all salty, you can buy special pickling salt from supermarkets. I always pickle shallots they taste lovelly.

      Delete
  3. Oh yum, however it is a recipe to keep for next year. No home grown shallots for me this year.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lovely ! I think I will have to wait until next year as my shallots have done poorly this year :(

    ReplyDelete
  5. Home pickling is a good idea! They look very tasty.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anything that looks as good as your pickle won't last 6 months in our house.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Delish, I don't know if I'd be able to resist for a month. There won't be any pickled shallots here, they all rotted in the ground whilst I was on holiday, another thing which has succumbed to the weather this year.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh Good I've been waiting for your method. Do you age them in the fridge or cupboard?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. David, I keep them in the garage (which is an integral part of our house). It is dark and cool, so an ideal place for storing pickles - and wine!

      Delete
  9. Humm, maybe I will have to try growing fall shallots. We don't have anything like pickling vinegar here.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Those look really tasty. I think I'm going to have to experiment with growing some shallots. I love them every way and have never tried to grow them.

    ReplyDelete
  11. They look lovely. We've not yet grown shallots, but tempting...

    ReplyDelete
  12. Mine are a little different, but I'm pickling shallots as well! Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  13. i bought some shallots yesterday which i known is cheating!!! i didnt realise they had to be left over night in salt, which means they have to go in vinegar tomorrow 5th nov my birthday!! ilove pickled onions/shallots as they are zero calories :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks Mark. Had a bumper crop of Jermor shallotts this year , so will give your recipe a go.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking time to leave me a comment! Please note that Comment Moderation is enabled for older posts.