Pickling Shallots

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 47, 17 May 1940, Page 45

Pickling Shallots

Dear Aunt Daisy, While listening to your most enjoyable session the other day, I heard you inquiring for different methods of pickling eschallots. I have a very easy way, which was given to me by a lady in England, who had to pickle sacks of them for her shop. I have tried the same method for over 20 years, and believe me, Aunt Daisy, after being in pickle for over a year, they are still as hard and crisp as when first done. Here is the method: Peel the eschallots and wipe quite dry with a clean cloth. Put into jars with a fair amount of salt. Put a little pickling spice on the top, pour over the vinegar, cold (I don’t boil it at all), and then cork. Leave until well soaked. They are delicious. I always pickle ordinary onions in the same way. Also, Aunt Daisy, as tomatoes are so cheap and plentiful just now, I must give you a very easy way of preserving them without a bottling outfit. I have used it for years, and never had a failure. Take any quantity of ripe tomatoes, and cut them up; put them into a saucepan or preserving pan, and boil in their own juice until soft and pulpy. Then add a little butter, and salt to taste, and boil for five minutes longer. Have ready some cleaned and warmed treacle or golden syrup tins. Pour the tomatoes into these, filling them brim full, so that the liquid runs over when the lid is pressed on. Wipe the juice from around the lid, and pour hot paraffin wax all over the top. Allow to stand overnight in the one place; then give the tins another thin coating of wax. Preserved in this way, they will keep as long as twelve months. — " Petone-ite." — A. most useful letter — many thanks for it. Here is a way of doing sweet pickled shallots: