From burger toppings in the summer tocozy French onion soup in the fall, onions are useful year-round.
Fortunately, they areeasy to grow in your garden.
Best Onion Varieties for Storage
Properly stored, onions can last for months.
Compassionate Eye Foundation/Natasha Alipour Faridani/Getty Images.
The best storage onion varieties have a high sulfur contentthey’ll make you cryand a strong flavor.
Mild-flavored orsweet onion varietieswill likely only keep for a few weeks.
Check withyour local cooperative extension officeto determine which types will grow best in your area.
Use a garden fork toloosen the soilaround your plants, taking care not to skewer the onions.
Then lift your onion bulbs out of the ground and brush off the excess dirt.
If the soil is loose already, it’s possible for you to simply pull them up by hand.
Don’t remove the leaves.
“It’s best to leave the tops on onions until they are fully cured.
Any onions that have flowers should be used as soon as possible; they won’t store well.
Curing Onions
Proper curing is critical for onion storage.
Don’t wash them; just brush off loose dirt.
“Be careful not to leave onions out in excessive heat or in excessive moisture.
“The goal is to achieve dry conditions and temperatures below 85F for two to four weeks.
confirm whatever structure you’re curing your onions in has good airflow and ventilation.
Open doors and use fans to move air around,” says Higgins.
When cured, brush off any remaining dirt and loose layers.
Although these conditions may be difficult to maintain at home, onions are pretty forgiving.
Alternatively, you’re free to store them in a mesh bag, wire basket, or crate.
You could even braid them for hanging.
Check them regularly and discard any that show signs of rot.
Above all, don’t store onions nearpotatoesorapples.
That way, you’ll be prepared whenever the craving foronion diporfajitaskicks in.
Other varieties, like Redwing and Red Zeppelin onions will likely last only 6 to 10 months.
Most white onions are softer and milder than red and yellow onions.
So, their shelf life is shorter.
Sweet onions contain fewer sulfurous compounds than pungent onions.
They have a higher sugar and water content and thin, papery skinall of which shortens their shelf life.
Wrap your sweet onion bulbs individually in paper towels and store them in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator.
When stored like this, they can last 3 to 6 months.
They will only last 4 to 6 weeks when stored at room temperature.
If you cry when cutting onions, sulfurous compounds are to blame.
When you slice into the onion, the onions cells release those compounds into the air.
Its a small price to pay for increased storage time because those sulfurous compounds inhibit rot.
