a lifelong obsession
Auntie Caroline's Pickled Onions
I’ve been in love with pickled onions since I was a child — I hid jars under my bed and ate them before I went to sleep. At family gatherings I’d fill my plate with them and sit in a corner eating, then convince others to pile extra on their plate, all for me.
I’ve been on a quest to find the perfect pickled onion my whole life, and in the end I decided to make them myself. I held pickled onion tasting parties in Tokyo where serious pickled onion fans could indulge their obsession — huge jars would be emptied in one night.
I’d been giving them to friends and family as Christmas presents, and was eventually convinced that they had to be sold. And so, in October 2013, Auntie Caroline’s Pickled Onions went on sale in Cirencester, and started flying off the shelves.
I now have a range of over 40 different pickles, chutneys, and jams; and supply about 90 independent shops around the UK, mainly in The Cotswolds. Matthew was my customer for two years before he became my boyfriend in 2017, and officially joined the business in 2021. His nephew has been pickling with me since he was fourteen, so it feels like a lovely little family business with the three of us now. We are regulars at Cirencester Market, and we love the market lifestyle!
Auntie Caroline's stall in Cirencester
