BARRY Norman, film critic and broadcaster, knows his onions after pickling them for many years from an old family recipe.

Now he has entrusted that prized formula and his celebrity name to Bennett Opie, the 128-year old specialist food manufacturer in Sittingbourne.

Barry Norman’s Pickled Onions in specially branded jars are now a best seller in supermarkets and independent stores across the country. More than 125,000 have been sold in just a few weeks.

William Opie, managing director of the 128-year old firm, said he was delighted to be making Barry’s speciality.

“Pickled onions are something we’ve never really been able to develop as a brand,” he said. “What we found attractive about this was that it gave us another angle to get in by going the celebrity route.”

The idea to link Barry’s name to pickled onions, and join celebrity food product endorsers such as Paul Newman, Linda McCartney and Loyd Grossman, emerged during a family dinner in Norman’s home village of Datchworth in Hertfordshire.

Younger daughter Emma served her father’s onions to friend John Wringe, a marketing expert. They were made from a recipe handed down from Barry’s great-grandmother, grandmother and mother.

During a visit to Bennett Opie’s factory in Chalkwell Road, Barry recalled: “John is a pickled onion nut. He had one of my onions and said it was like St Paul on the Road to Damascus. He said, 'They are the best I’ve ever eaten, they must be marketed’.”

Bennett Opie was the third out of three possible manufacturers visited by John and Barry. They immediately clicked with William and the firm started trials to try to replicate the Norman family recipe.

Eventually, the firm achieved a taste that matched the original and production began.

Barry says that in a blind tasting, he would be unable to spot the difference. “I wouldn’t put my name to something I didn’t personally like,” he said, adding: “I’m gratified and amused by it still. Nobody was more astounded than I when it all actually came to pass.”