I grew up eating traditional British pickled onions made with malt vinegar (my mouth is watering just typing that!), although I've never bottled them myself at home. Recently my daughter has become entranced with the thinly sliced red onions often served at restaurants as a garnish. She found a recipe to make them at home after I gave her a mandoline slicer for Christmas and insisted I try them.
It's actually very simple to pickle your own vegetables and in this recipe the brine is just vinegar, sugar, salt, garlic and spices. Using a mandoline allows you to get paper thin slices of onion and the process also goes much faster. I used about 2 onions to fill my 500ml Mason jar and that yields plenty of pickles. I find the white vinegar very strong so a small amount of onion goes a long way on a sandwich, topping a salad, or even straight off a fork. The pink colour is so pretty and the jar will keep in the fridge for a few weeks.
If you'd like to give making quick pickles a try you can find the recipe we used HERE. This is just a starting point and you can switch up the taste by trying different spices and seasonings. I might prepare the next batch using malt vinegar or perhaps, even try making those British whole onions I remember!
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