Pickling onions.

Could someone tell me the best and easist way to skin the little onions.

Also a recipe using brown sugar, golden syrup or honey. I love them really sweet.Usually do the curry recipe,

.wanna get cracking on these soon. put in general, got good ideas for peeling, but still looking for a really sweet recipe.

korbo, I'm not at all a fan of pickled onions so I can't help you with a personally tried recipe but you might like to try this one - it's from the former Trademe Cooks.

"Our favourite Pickled Onions
For the jars - they're easily and cheaply available at Opp shops - select the ones with a plastic lid, so rust doesn't occur in the lid before the onions are used. Peel the onions, and place them into clean jars, packing them in to about 1cm below the top of the jar. For a jar of a size that would hold about 2 cups of liquid (500mls), add 6 to 8 whole black peppercorns and 2 tsp white or brown sugar, or your favourite honey. Fill the jar to just cover the onions, with malt vinegar. Place the lid on, and you're done. Keep 2 weeks before using. and enjoy. They stay crisp and delicious when pickled this way. Variations: 1/ Use white vinegar instead of malt. 2/ Use spiced vinegar instead of the malt. 3/ Add a couple of chillies for a hotter flavour. 4/ Add a couple of whole cloves to alter the flavour a little. 5/ Add a piece of cinnamon stick, and a couple of small fresh or dried chillies. 6/ Add a few more teaspoons of sugar or honey, for a sweeter result. 7/ Use larger onions. peel them, then slice into thick rings. Place into jars and make in any of the ways above. Doing this gives more onions per jar as they pack together in layers, plus if the onion is large enough, a complete circle of the pickled onions fits a sandwich. Great for bbq's too. pop some circles on the bbqs for a hot and tasty addition to meats. Put them in a dish on the bbq if you don't want the vinegar to come into contact with your bbq surface. The larger onions are good value when available in mid to late season - late January through to about early April, usually they're about $6 to $8 for a 10kg bag. Use them fresh as you want them, plus Pickle some in rings, make piccalilli, chow chow, relishes, chutney's and onion marmalade, etc.etc. Chop lots (use a food processor to make it quicker) and freeze the onions in small containers, or a large bag. Give the bag or container a shake every hour or so while the onions are freezing, and they'll stay free flow. When needed for stirfries, pies, bbq's, soups, casserole's, quiche, etc. etc. take out a handful or as many as you need, and add them, still frozen, to what you're making. The 10kg's of onions will soon be used - and you'll have a wonderful array of preserved goodies, plus lots of onions in your freezer, to help with meals throughout the year. and your few dollars have been well spent.
posted by juliewn"

Hope that helps.:-))

Korbo here is a recipe of my late SIL's pickled onions its very old so in oz's, sheused to do them by the crock full. Mr does ouronionsand i like these cause they are nice and crunchy and a little bit sweeter than his curry or honey ones. As for peeling not sure of a secret, he sits outside on a sunny day and peels them with no problems.
Pickled onions.
Peel your little onions and fill up a crock or clean sterilisedjars.
Make the brine. Into a saucepan put 1 1/2 lb sugar, 2 oz common salt,1 teaspoon vanilla essence, 2 750 ml's bottles of spiced vinegar, stir well over a low heat to combine and dissolve the sugar but do not boil.
Pour the liquid over onions to cover, lid on and leave 3 weeks before eating.

fifie.thank you, how much would2 oz salt be.

According to google its 56 grams.

For easier peeling, I pour boiling water over the onions,and leave them for about one minute. Then I drain, and cool them in cold water. After that I slice away the root and top ends, and the rest of the skin comes away easily. all the best.

Onions all done and looking good in the lovely tall jar.
now just gotta wait to try them.

I did the brown sugar, peppercorn and malt vinegar onions. Himself just tried them (have been pickled for 3 weeks) and he says they don't taste like pickled onions. :-/How weird is that. Is he used to the store bought ones! I thought they tasted good. On thinking about it it's not a bad thing because I get to eat them all:-)

I think it's the addition of chili that gives them the old fashioned pickled onion flavour with a bit of a kick.