How to store onions?

Everyone knows that onions are a very useful vegetable, as it contains many substances that our body needs. Experienced housewives add onions to many dishes, because it can give them a special taste.But unfortunately, the harvest collected in the fall is not always possible to save until spring. Meanwhile, this can be achieved if you store the bow correctly.

The kitchen of any people in the world can not do without onions. A particular variety is used everywhere as a savory seasoning, for making sauces, salads, first and second courses. In the Mediterranean restaurant, you will be served to any dish with a salad, in which the onion is always present, in a Arabic and Greek restaurant they will place a plate on the table with small sharp pickled onions. And hardly anyone ever heard of French onion soup. Onions even prepare jam, which has a pleasant original taste. In northern countries, it can be added as a seasoning to meat dishes.

The bow has had such wide popularity all over the world since time immemorial, but today hardly anyone will remember that Central Asia is considered the birthplace of the plant. The spread of the plant was not only due to its interesting taste. People have long noticed that using onions for food improves health, bypassing the side of the disease. It was often used as a drug in many conditions. Onions even treated scurvy.

Today, it is reliably known that both the onion and green onion contain volatile production - substances that have the strongest bactericidal properties.

In addition to phytoncides, onions are high in vitamins A, C, B, E, PP, mineral salts (phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, iron), amino acids and essential oils, and natural sugars. Therefore, the recommendations of doctors to use onions to improve immunity, especially during seasonal diseases and the epidemic of influenza, are understandable.

Onion helps to stimulate appetite and improves digestion, enhancing the secretion of gastric juice, promotes the improvement of the intestinal microflora. Also, onions are recommended for bronchitis, as its juice dilutes it and promotes coughing.

In folk medicine, apply onion compresses for anesthesia, juice treat cold.

Onions are widely used in cosmetology. Hair mask will strengthen hair follicles, relieve dandruff. It is good to rinse blond hair with broth from onion peel: the hair will not only have a healthy effect, but will also get a beautiful golden hue.

Unfortunately, such a beautiful plant has several unpleasant features:

• When cutting onions, eyes begin to get very watery. This unpleasant phenomenon can be reduced by periodically wetting the knife with cold water.
• Unpleasant smell from the mouth. You can chew coffee beans after it, but this does not always help. Therefore it is better to refrain from eating onions, if you are going to any event.
• Occasionally individual intolerance occurs, expressed in allergic reactions.

Bulb onion - a biennial plant. In the first year after planting, it produces an onion, in the second it forms seeds. Their germination persists for 2-3 years.

Onions are quite resistant to cold, their seeds can grow at a temperature of +3 - + 5 ° C, and seedlings can tolerate a negative temperature up to -2 ° C. Optimal for growing is +20 - + 26 ° C.

In the process of growth, bulbs and green tubular leaves are formed. Both bulbs and leaves are used as food. If the latter have dried and come down to the ground, this is a sign that the onions have begun to ripen.

Although the plant is not very demanding to care, it loves fertile soils with high humidity. Subject to the necessary conditions and timely loosening and weeding, you can get a good harvest. Bulb weight can vary from 30-60 to 500 g.

Onions are characterized by a variety of forms.The bulbs can be round, flattened, egg-shaped, strongly elongated, resemble an ellipse.

The color of the bulbs can also be different. There are white, yellow, cream, brown, reddish, purple fruits. Inside the color can be white, pink, light purple.

Depending on the variety varies the sharpness of taste. Onions can be sharp, semi-sharp and non-sharp.

In order for a bow to be kept well and long and not lose its properties, you need to follow some rules:

• First of all, you need to choose the appropriate grade. In principle, the general rules apply to all varieties of onions. However, white, red, purple, which are sweet and mild, more capricious and demanding conditions and storage rules. But even with their strict observance it is unlikely that you will be able to save the product until spring.
• For preparations for the winter it is best to stop the selection on yellow onions. There are many essential oils in its hard shell that will protect it from quick drying. It is more resistant to rotting, even if you can not create ideal conditions.

• Vegetable must be thoroughly dried.
• It is unacceptable to leave on long storage bulbs, which are at least slightly spoiled, on which there is damage or a very small layer of husk.
• You need to think carefully about where the vegetable will be stored. This should be a room with a constant temperature and moderate humidity. In an overly dry place, the onions will dry out, and rot in high humidity. It is also undesirable for sunlight to fall in stocks.

• Be sure to choose a suitable container. It should not be too voluminous and well ventilated.
• Undesirable neighborhoods with other vegetables should be avoided. You do not need to store potatoes, beets together with onions - they require greater humidity.
• From time to time, supplies should be sorted out in order to remove the specimens that started to rot. If this is not done on time, the process will switch to neighboring bulbs. In autumn and winter, it is enough to perform work once a month and a half. With the approach of spring, the interval will need to be reduced.
• For use, first of all, select large copies - they are worse stored.

Creating favorable conditions and compliance with the rules will significantly increase the shelf life of the crop. Bulbs in a state of biological rest, easily lie until spring. A properly selected variety will be suitable for food in the summer.

Storage space should not be too hot, as the onions begin to sprout. It is optimal to store onions in a dry basement or cellar, where a constant temperature of +1 - + 2 ° С is maintained, and the air is ventilated.

It is convenient to store onions in such rooms in wooden or plastic boxes, which have a lot of openings so that air can circulate. For onions, you should choose wide low boxes so that the layer of vegetables does not exceed 45-50 cm. With a thicker layer, the vegetables lying on the bottom will be under high pressure and they will start to deteriorate.

You can also use canvas bags that are well breathable. But the volume of bags should not be large for the same reason as in the case of tall boxes - the bow located below will inevitably begin to deteriorate. It is absolutely unacceptable to use plastic bags. If possible, a bow woven into braids or in nylon stockings is hung from the ceiling.

If, turning over the onions, you notice that it has begun to deteriorate, this means that the room is very high humidity. To reduce it, put a container with a substance that will absorb moisture. Sawdust, lime, ash will do. You can also pour onions with chalk.

However, not all summer residents have a cellar with suitable conditions, and many have to keep their crops at home. At home, save the bow is also possible.

Place a couple - three kilograms in any dry box in the kitchen - in a short period it will not deteriorate.

Some people believe that onions should be stored in the refrigerator, as it maintains a constant low temperature. However, this is not quite true. For some time, the vegetable can be kept there, but because of the raw air in a couple of months it will start to rot. In addition, it is unlikely that you will place even the entire harvest in a very large aggregate. The refrigerator is great for the quick storage of peeled and sliced ​​food.

High-rise residents often fit balconies for this purpose. If you have a loggia or a covered balcony, then they are suitable for the preservation of the bow.

Onions on the open balcony should not be stored for a long time - in winter it will freeze. To prevent this trouble, with the onset of frost it must be moved into the house. It will continue to be stored in a warm place, but you should know that the bow does not tolerate sudden changes in temperature, and it must be moved gradually. For example, to start leave it for a while at the balcony door, where it is much cooler.

Onions can be stored at a higher temperature, but it is better to find a dry place in the apartment with good air circulation. As a rule, a constant temperature of +18 - + 23 ° С is maintained in apartments, and these conditions are quite suitable for vegetables.

Sometimes in a warm individual bulbs begin to germinate. Their inner part is divided into so-called rudiments, from which green shoots appear. This process can not be stopped. In such a situation, you can plant sprouted onions in a pot and grow greens. In winter, freshly cut green onions will be most welcome both as an ingredient in salads, and as a seasoning for other dishes. The plant does not require special care, and you will have a source of living vitamins.

Long-term storage of onions to a large extent contributes to its proper preparation. It begins in late August or early September, when the vegetable ripens. By the time of collection, make sure that the root crops are fully formed. In addition to the dead dried leaves, their husks have a rich color, and its outer layer well departs from the bulb.

Try to pull out the vegetable without damage - they will not allow him to preserve their properties for a long time. Carefully undermine the roots and pull the leaves.

The next important step is drying. In the presence of clear dry weather, the vegetable can be left to dry in the garden. But if you have no guarantees that such weather will continue in the next two weeks, then it is better not to risk it - even a little rain can ruin the crop. Therefore, still collect the roots, clean off the ground with them and lay them in one thin layer in a place protected from rain and with well-ventilated air.

Under favorable weather conditions, the drying period will take about two weeks. If it rains and the air is damp or the ground is not dry enough, drying can take 2-3 weeks. Every few days it is necessary to agitate the onion, so that it evenly coag and does not rot. It is necessary to ensure that during the entire period of drying on the moisture does not fall on the bow.

In the case of a small crop in a city apartment, sometimes an oven is used for drying. With this method, it is important that the oven is not overheated. It is turned on at the lowest temperature and periodically turned off. This drying does not take much time.

In dried onions, you need to carefully cut the roots without damaging the bulb. The tops are also cut off, leaving a tail of 5 cm. Peel off exfoliating flakes.

Now you should sort out the roots, selecting for storage solid bulbs with bright color, on which there is no damage.

There are many ways to preserve the harvest. Properly prepared onions will calmly lie until spring in a suitable container in the basement and in the apartment. Of course, it is inconvenient to arrange drawers in an apartment. Instead, you can use wicker baskets. Air passes well through them; if necessary, they can easily be moved from place to place.

Also suitable boxes made of cardboard. It is an excellent natural and moisture absorbent material. In large boxes it is necessary to make holes for ventilation.

A great solution would be to use polypropylene nets (in such vegetables and fruits are often sold in the store), or small bags of cloth.

There is an original folk way used by our grandmothers - to store onions in kapron stockings. Stockings are well breathable, through them you will see if the bow begins to deteriorate

One of the wonderful ways that our ancestors also used was weaving bows into braids. If you are going to store it that way, then the tails of the tops should be left longer. Since the leaf is not very durable, it is better to tie it to a stronger basis. You can take a thick rope or belt from an old dress or robe.

Of course, you will spend a lot of time on the procedure, you will need patience, but this method has several advantages:

• the bulbs do not crush each other;
• each of them provides maximum air access;
• all bulbs are on review, at any time you can remove the instance that has begun to deteriorate;
• the spit suspended in the apartment will disinfect the air, which is especially important in the autumn-winter period.

No matter how well you prepare a peeled vegetable and no matter how long it lays, you can notice that the onion is rotting closer to summer. And this happens not with a few pieces, but in a fairly large number. You can use a few pieces, but you can save the rest. For this:

• Thoroughly clean the vegetable from the husk and spoiled parts. Store a small portion in the refrigerator in cling film. Product will be valid for 5-6 days.
• During the week the onion will lie in the refrigerator in the container, if you lubricate the sections with vegetable oil.
• Also in the refrigerator, the vegetable is stored in a container with water. Water should be changed every day or two.

• Peeled and chopped vegetables can be frozen. Pack portions in plastic bags and fold them in the freezer. Shelf life - a year. Of course, thawed onion is hardly suitable for salads, but it will be just right for frying and stewing.
• From finely chopped onion, you can prepare a delicious seasoning, if it is dried. To do this, pour it in a thin layer on a baking sheet and place in the oven on a small fire. When the onions lose moisture, let it cool and pack in canvas, paper bags or plastic containers. The shelf life of such a product is two years.
• A great way to preserve a crop is to pickle with vinegar or apple vinegar. For pickling is suitable and whole, and chopped vegetable. Vinegar is an excellent preservative, and if the jar is not opened, a tasty product will last up to six months. Just put the banks in a dark cool place. An open jar is refrigerated and stored for a month.
• An even longer shelf life will provide another kind of canning - pickling. You can also use whole and sliced ​​onions.Peeled onions are laid in 3-4 cm layers in a sterilized jar, and each layer is sprinkled with salt on top - this is another great natural preservative. This should be done until the bank is filled with layers. Closed lids cans stored in a dark cool place.

You can apply another method of salting. Peeled and washed onions are folded in an enamel pot, a little bay leaf and black peas are added to it. Now the onion is poured with brine, prepared at the rate of 1 tablespoon of salt per 1 liter of water, and the pressure is set. A week later, the onions are rolled in the usual way into banks and put in a cool place. Salty onion is very pleasant to the taste and retains many useful properties.

Learn more about how to store onions, you will learn from the following video.