Shallots, shallots and more shallots.

Our shallots are forever popular.  We provide original shallots, shallots in balsamic vinegar, with garlic and with chillies.  And we sell loads of them.  This means we are forever peeling them.  We order them in batches of 96kg and have virtually finished peeling the latest order—twelve kg to go.  We will have a short break as grandparent duties take over during the school half-term.   And at the end of half-term, we will be ordering more....another 96kg.  We peel at least 8 kg per day.

We prefer shallots over pickled onions as they are slightly sweeter than onions and keep their crunch much longer, which is great for the purchaser.

Those we have recently peeled will be ready to eat at the start of April; they will take about 6 weeks of pickling to be suitable for eating.

The problem with their popularity is that the high turnover means there is no end to peeling, just the occasional break from it.  And if you don't wear gloves, you end up with fingers the colour of a 40-a-day smoker due to the shallot skins staining hands.

At one event last year, a very old lady (but still as bright as a button) was talking about her youth and when she used to peel onions.   "Oh yes......." she said "....and we used to use skins to colour our clothes."  before asking, "Do you do that?"

You won't believe this, but we don't.