A jar of Tesco pickled onions sits on a wooden surface against the ornate backdrop of a Klimt painting, with its characteristic swirling patterns and geometric designs in blues, golds, and earth tones. The jar contains plump white onions floating in amber-coloured vinegar, looking considerably more promising than their Stockwell & Co rivals. The label boldly claims they're "tangy & crisp" - words that fill one with cautious optimism after recent pickled onion disappointments. Rather fitting that they're posed against such artistic splendour, really.
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Tesco Tangy and Crisp Pickled Onions

Pickled Onion Review #2: Tesco Tangy and Crisp Pickled Onions

Lately, I've found myself developing an almost unhealthy obsession with pickled onions. Yes, pickled onions!

One moment I was simply existing day to day, vaguely aware of this tangy delight, and the next, I’m consuming jars like  it’s the newest dietary obsession.

Is my body suddenly craving a rare nutrient that can only be found in the vinegary depths of an onion jar? Or perhaps it’s how they supress the constant hunger caused by my antidepressants? Is my inner id crying, “More vinegar! Less existential dread!” Who knew that my path to happiness would be paved with pickled onions?

So let's turn this craving into something "useful".... online content. That's what the kids want today, isn't it - online reviews of some niche product by a newly converted zealot. Forget unboxing videos of the latest tech - let's unjar some onions live on camera and really live on the edge. Maybe this is why I finally crack and set-up a TikTok account.

A top-down view into an opened glass jar reveals about eight small, translucent pickled onions floating in rich amber-coloured vinegar. The thick glass rim frames the contents as they sit submerged in their golden brine on a weathered wooden surface with visible grain patterns. Behind the jar, an intricate section of Klimt painting displays his signature swirling spirals, geometric mosaics, and jewel-toned patterns in blues, golds, and emerald greens - providing rather grand artistic company for what turned out to be a perfectly adequate, if slightly artificial, pickled onion experience.

So, after the profound disappointment of the Stockwell variety, I approached my next jar, also from Tesco, with a degree of scepticism. This time, it's Tesco's own-brand "Tangy and Crisp" pickled onions. A step up in the branding, at least.

A close-up of a product label showing the top line which reads "Onions pickled in spirit vinegar" in white text on a brown background - a refreshingly honest description that doesn't oversell what's essentially vegetables having a bit of a soak in some artificially reinforced vinegar.

First impressions are decent. The onions are a respectable size – not the tiny, disappointing bullets you sometimes find. Big enough to bite through, or to fill your mouth for a good chew. You're not popping them like pills. And true to their name, they have a good, solid crunch. So far, so good.

A pale, translucent pickled onion sits impaled on a small silver cocktail fork, balanced precariously across the rim of its glass jar like a reluctant diver contemplating the plunge back into the amber depths below. The fork's metallic surface catches the light against the sumptuous backdrop of Klimt's swirling golden spirals and jewel-encrusted mosaics - rather like presenting a modest pub snack on a Renaissance altar. The onion itself appears to have accepted its fate with typical British stoicism.

The flavour is where things get a bit more complicated. There's a definite tang, a world away from the watery nonsense of the "Stockwell" counterparts. However, it feels a bit... forced; artificial. A quick glance at the ingredients confirms my suspicions: both acetic acid and salt are listed. It feels a bit like cheating, doesn't it? Some of that bite isn't; it's saltiness. A shortcut to a sharpness that should come from the pickling process, not from just throwing more acid and salt at it.

A close-up of an ingredients list in white text on a brown label, revealing the rather lengthy chemical composition behind what should be simple pickled onions: onion, water, spirit vinegar, salt, acetic acid, malted barley extract, and a small chemistry set of preservatives including sodium hydrogen sulphite and sodium metabisulphite. Rather puts you off your lunch when you realise how much effort it takes to pickle an onion these days.

Overall, they're a significant improvement. They have the requisite crunch and a tang that will certainly wake you up. But the flavour has an artificial edge that stops them from being truly great. A solid mid-tier effort, but the search for the perfect pickled onion continues.

3 Onions out of 5, a decent supermarket own-brand
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