How to Preserve Onions

Onions are indispensable in the kitchen and can be preserved for a long time. Although onions are available all year round, if you grow them yourself and know how to maintain them, you can cross them off your grocery list. Here’s how to choose and store onions to keep their flavor and nutrition up to 10 months:

Table of Contents

Choose onions to store

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Store harvested onions at the end of the year. Onions harvested in spring and summer are not sturdy enough to store. These onions need to be used within a few weeks of harvest. You should store your harvested onions in the fall, as these varieties can withstand the winter. ^{[1] X Research Source}

If you grow your own onions, you should store the onions you planted in the spring.
You can harvest onions for storage in late summer or early fall, when the tops of the onion plants begin to recede and dry out.

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Store pungent onions. Unlike sweet onions, pungent onions contain sulfur compounds that cause tears when cut, and it also helps preserve onions through the winter. Sweet onions do not have this self-preservation mechanism, so you need to use them within a few weeks of harvest. The following onion varieties have good preservation ability: ^{[2] X Research Source}

Yellow onions such as ebenezer, yellow globe, downing yellow globe, and yellow globe danvers.
White onions like Southport white globes. These varieties of onions should only be stored if they have small tops.
Red onions, including wethersfield and Southport red globe.

Preparing to preserve onions

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Dry the onion skins. After harvesting the onions, spread the onions in a well-ventilated place so that the onion skins harden. Do not remove leaves. Let the onions dry for 2-4 weeks. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

Dry onions in a place without sunlight and moisture. Sunlight can damage onions and make onions more bitter. Spread tarps in your garage or shed to dry the onions. The onion drying area should be dry, warm and well ventilated.
Onions will dry when the tops are no longer green. The onion skin will shrivel around the stem and wrap tightly around the onion.

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Cut onions. When the top of the onion is completely dry, you can use sharp scissors to cut off the onion roots.

Discard any onions that have stalks that are still green at this point, as well as those that have bruises or cracks.
Cut the onion leaves at least 2.5 cm long above the onion, or leave the onion leaves whole and braid them together.

Prepare a place to dry onions

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Choose a cool and dark place to store onions. The onion storage area should have a temperature between 4-10°C. Many people choose the basement as a place to store onions. If the temperature is too warm, the onions will start to sprout. If the temperature is too cold, the onions will start to rot. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

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Keep the onion storage area dry. Onions easily absorb moisture, and moisture in the air will damage onions. Humidity should be maintained at 65-70%. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

Using stored onions

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Use onions with fatter necks. Bulbs with a fat neck are the oldest and won’t last as long as younger and smaller bulbs.

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Check operating regularly. Take a moment to glance at the onions from time to time and discard the ones that are starting to rot.

Onions that have begun to sprout are still edible. You just need to cut off the green part before processing. ^{[7] X Research Sources}
Don’t risk eating viscous or discolored tubers.
Save excess onions for spring planting.

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Store peeled onions in the freezer. Chop the onion, spread it in a single layer in a cookie sheet, and put it in the freezer. Once the onions have frozen solid, remove them from the tray and place them in a Ziploc ziplock bag or box and place in the freezer. One drawback of this method is that the freezing space is limited. ^{[8] X Research Sources}

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Wrap leftover onions and store in the refrigerator. Onions are often left over after cooking. If you want to preserve onions for later use, you can cover the onions with plastic wrap and place them in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator. ^{[9] X Research Source}

Warning

Do not store onions with potatoes. Onions will draw moisture from the potatoes and spoil.

Steps

Choose onions to store

Preparing to preserve onions

Prepare a place to dry onions

Using stored onions

Warning

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