Value for money thios week looks at pickled onions

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Cottage Delight Pickled Onions, €3.55 for 270g (drained 154g), €23.05 per kg

Highs:These are undoubtedly the most upmarket of the onions we tried. The bay leaves, spices and black peppercorns give them a complexity of flavour that is absent in the other brands tried. The somewhat soft onions are dark in colour, having soaked up a considerable amount of the very good quality malt vinegar in the jar. They are nice and mild and are on the large side.

Lows:While the onions are big, the jar is very small and you don't get a whole lot of bang for your buck. These also lack the crunch of some of the much cheaper options we came across and they might be too mild for some tastes. They were also nearly three times more expensive than the cheapest onions we tasted.

Verdict:Upmarket but expensive

Star rating:***

Garner's Original Pickled Onions, €3.53 for 454g (drained 230g), €15.54 per kg

Highs:These outsized onions are incredibly sharp and come with an eye-watering vinegar kick - which could be seen as a good or bad thing depending on your preferences. They are also impressively crunchy and, despite swimming in vinegar, they have managed to retain an earthy, robust onion flavour which lingers long on the palate.

Lows:Those robust flavours lingered just a bit too long, we thought. Some of the onions in this jar had a decidedly mature appearance and texture and consequently tasted just a little ropey. While most of them would be absolutely fine chopped into a sandwich, they aren't so nice when picked out of the jar and popped into the mouth.

Verdict:Too earthy

Star rating: ***

Chef Silverskin Onions, €1.85 for 355g (drained 220g), €8.40 per kg

Highs:Although this jar was fairly small, it contained almost as many onions by weight as Garner's. There is nothing remotely subtle about Chef's silverskin onions - they are pretty much all vinegar and crunch with only the merest hint of onion.

They are very traditional and familiar and very easy to find. They are also very good value and were a whole lot cheaper than even the cheapest of the competition. The onions are not too small and not too big and make for a perfect accompaniment to a cheese sandwich.

Lows:While we liked the simplicity, these onions were found to be ever so slightly wanting in the flavour stakes, and we were able to detect almost as much salt as onion.

Verdict: Old school

Star rating: *****

Opies Cocktail Onions, €1.69 for 227g (drained 120g), €14.08 per kg

Highs:These are dinky little onions and probably the perfect size for piercing with a cocktail stick, if you're so inclined. They are nice and sweet and the onion flavours are pretty subtle, so they won't overpower any little cubes of cheese you might feel inclined to add to the aforementioned cocktail stick (although that whole concept might be just a little too 1970s for many people).

Lows:They are on the fiddly side and we found them frustratingly difficult to casually pluck out of the jar while we searched for something else in our fridge. Not only did this jar contain the smallest onions, it also contained the smallest amount of them, and we were surprised by how expensive they were.

Verdict: Nice but pricey

Star rating: ***

Kühne Choice Grade Pickled Onions, €1.54 for 320g (drained 190g), €8.10 per kg

Highs:These onions come from Germany, the home of the pickled vegetable, and are unsurprisingly pretty good. The jar contains loads of tiny little onions which have a soft (although not soggy) texture. There were no sharp vinegar flavours to sting the back of our mouths and there was a surprising variety of flavours in this jar, with some of the onions tasting very vinegary while others tasted very strongly of onions.

Lows:Some people might miss the crunch as these really are quite soft. They were also too small to chop up and too round to sit still on a cheese sandwich.

Verdict:Cheap and pleasant

Star rating: ****