The thought of leftover turkey may leave you cold but with the right accompaniment, it can be transformed into a right royal feast.

I KNOW, I know, you haven't even cooked your turkey yet, and we're already thinking of the leftovers. Time to get yourself into a pickle. When it comes to the crunch, nothing adds a bit of zest to cold turkey like a good pickle. A good, crispy crunch and a nice kick in the back of the throat - without bringing tears to your eyes.

Great if you made your own. Meanwhile, the rest of us have to rely on shop-bought offerings - and a sorry lot many of them are. Soggy, spineless, watery, with about as much zest as a popped balloon.

A decent pickle can turn bread and cheese into a feast good enough for a prince as well as a ploughman and set your taste buds tingling. The worst just make your breath smell.

THE VERY BEST

GARNERS PICKLED SHALLOTS £1.74 for 300g

"Hand peeled and preserved to my secret recipe, these scrumptious shallots are a treat on any occasion," says Judy Garner.

These were wonderful. Definitely the creme de la creme of pickles and worth every penny. Deliciously crunchy, full of onion flavour and with just the right amount of kick. Particularly good with cold beef and can hold their own against an extra mature Cheddar but still not overwhelm the turkey. As good as the ones my gran used to make.

VERY GOOD

GARNERS PICKLED ONIONS £1.79 for 454g

Very crunchy, strong dark vinegar. Just like home made. Wonderful.

LEWIS AND COOPER PICKLED SHALLOTS £3.85 for 500g

Expensive but very good indeed, a bit sweeter than most but with lots of crunch.

COTTAGE DELIGHT £2.15 for 270g

Nice oniony flavour to these, not just vinegar, but expensive.

WORTH BUYING

BRANSTON SILVERSKINS £1.65 for 640g

For silverskins, these packed a powerful punch.

BRANSTON £1.65 for 640g

Decent taste and crunch.

ROSS'S TRADITIONAL PICKLED ONIONS £1.35 for 440g

Not as good as home made, but quite decent.

THORPE FARM PEEL HOUSE £1.89 for 454g

Nice and crunchy but not a very strong flavour.

BLAND AND BORING

HEINZ SWEET SILVERSKIN ONIONS £1.28 for 440g

Very little flavour.

MARKS & SPENCER £1.65 for 710g

Wishy-washy and watery. Despite the peppercorns and mustard seed, these didn't have much oomph about them and tasted as if they'd just been put in the jar yesterday.

HAYWARDS CRISP AND CRUNCHY TRADITIONAL £1.27 for 454g

HAYWARDS CRISP AND MILD SWEET ONIONS £1.43 for 454g

Both of these were fairly nondescript and - despite their description - were pretty soggy too.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS

TESCO FINEST SILVERSKIN ONIONS WITH SHERRY VINEGAR, GINGER AND MUSTARD SEEDS £1.19 for 340g

These were utterly disgusting. The sherry fought with the mustard, which fought with the vinegar which fought with the ginger - and they all ganged up against the onions. A truly terrible combination. Whoever invented this recipe should be made to eat a jar full every day all over Christmas. That'll teach 'em.

PS

Nearly all these pickle jars told us to "refrigerate after opening". Surely the whole point of pickling something was that it would last all through a long winter and beyond?

Take to the slopes in style

IF you're hoping for a hard winter, then forget going down the slopes on a tin tray, a bit of plastic and certainly a bin liner - we've fallen for the new range of sledges and toboggans from Super Tramp. Priced from £9.99 to £149, they cater for everyone from toddlers to boy racers. See you on the sledging field.

Bringing mirth to mealtimes

BRING some fun into your breakfast. A nice daft idea from Breville is their Laughter Lines range - kettle, toaster and sandwich maker - that tell you when they're ready with comic celebrity voice impressions.

They'll probably drive you mad by Boxing Day but it makes a change from a whistle. Kettle £29.99, toaster and sandwich toaster £24.99.

Pushing the boat out

NEW gravy granules from Oxo this Christmas will help bring out the best in the turkey (onion with a hint of sage and thyme is 69p). Meanwhile, the 49p sachet range has been extended to include beef with a hint of pink peppercorns, and beef with a hint of winter berry and shallot.

Stalls for all

THERE'S a two-day Christmas market in Richmond tomorrow and Sunday with regular market stalls, farmer's market and craft stalls plus carols, rides and a roundabout. It runs from 9am tomorrow and 10am on Sunday.

TRIED AND TESTED

FAIRY POWER SPRAY £2.69

Wondering what to do with burnt and baked food dishes and roasting tins? My solution is to leave them all to soak until it's someone else's turn to do the washing up.

But now Fairy have come up with an answer - power spray. Of course, if you believed all their ads you would have thought that Fairy Liquid would have been enough to lift all that burnt grease, wouldn't you? But no, that was clearly a bit of a fairy story.

Power spray is for the really tough jobs - like the turkey tin on Christmas afternoon. You spray the stubborn pans when you start to do the washing up and by the time you've finished, they say, power spray will have done its work and - abracadabra!

Well yes, probably. We tried it on a horrid grill pan, and yes, it did indeed, if not perform miracles, then at least make a decent job if it.

But I still say it's best to leave it for somebody else.

REMEMBER

Batteries, loo rolls, washing up liquid, more sticky tape, Calpol, indigestion tablets, hangover cures.