Many people have been storing onions wrong which has meant they have been going mouldy much quicker. With this food storage trick you could prolong onions for up to six months
Home cooking can be a nightmare when you reach for ingredients and realise they’ve gone mouldy or are simply not as fresh as you need – especially when it comes to veggies.
Onions are a staple in cooking but they are also one of the vegetables that can easily go off if you’ve already cut into one. However, this simple food storage trick means you can keep your onions for up to six months. While most people store them in the fridge, this may be actually reducing the life of them and making them go mouldy much quicker.
YouTuber Jerry James Stone shared his top tips for storing onions “without them rotting or going mushy” and advised people to stop storing them in cold temperatures. “I’m going to talk to you about how you properly store onions – if you do it correctly, you can actually store them for up to six months. Onions hate being in the fridge, that’s the first thing – never put them in the fridge. If you do, they actually rot and go mushy.”
It turns out onions thrive best in room temperature conditions, as when chilled, it soaks up all their moisture, meaning they go dry quicker. However, this doesn’t apply to peeled, sliced or diced onions. “The other thing about onions, is they prefer to be in a dry place, that’s cool, and has good ventilation,” Jerry shared.
He added: “So you don’t want to put them in a drawer, you can put them in a pantry if there’s a lot of air circulation there. That’s [ventilation] really important, you do want air movement because they put out a lot of moisture.” Jerry also advised that you shouldn’t store onions to potatoes either.
This is due to the “moisture and ethylene gas onions put out, they cause potatoes to sprout,” and instead recommended placing them alongside garlic as they “prefer the same environment.” Another storage tip is to always take them out of any plastic packaging if they came in one.
Plastic bags will allow moisture to be trapped, which can then lead to mould growing much quicker. According to The Express, onions need to breathe, so the best way to store them is in a mesh bag which allows for better airflow and helps to keep moisture levels down. To prolong them for as long as possible, keeping them in a cool, dry, dark place and away from light will keep them fresher for longer.
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