Did You Know This?... How To Keep Onion Fresh or Onion Sock

 

I like to cook, but I am a working woman and I cook when I have a chance to do that.  Very often, I have no time for grocery shopping and have to cook the meal from ingredients I have in my kitchen.  This is why I like to keep my kitchen well stocked.

As you know, yellow onion goes into a lot of recipes, so I am trying to keep it on hands at all times.  However, I was having problem keeping it fresh.  For example, I buy it in the store, it would be good for a short time and then goes bad really quick.  As a result I rarely had good onions when I needed it right away.

I started to think: how in the world people, say 100 years ago, were able to keep yellow or red onion fresh for a prolonged time?  I started looking for the answer and found it.  So, if you are interested, here is the solution to this problem.

I learned that in old times people kept onions for the longest time without any refrigeration thanks to making bulbs of onion or garlic into a "braid." Nowadays we can see garlic "braids" artfully arranged and hanging in the beautifully styled artisan kitchens imitating an old European charm. 

What I learned is that a bulb of onion will not get spoiled at a room temperature for a longest time as long as every bulb has good air circulation all around it. Onion bulbs should never touch each other when they put out for storage.  So, this is why in old times people used braiding technique to keep every bulb separate and hang it in the kitchen to keep it suspended in the air.  However, even if you buy yellow onion in a supermarket, there is a way to get good results of keeping it fresh even if you cannot make it into a braid.

Here is the secret: Take any clean knee high or stocking, drop an onion in it and tie the knot, then drop another onion and tie the knot again. The knot keeps every bulb separately and lets air flow around.  You can add as much onion bulbs as you need, or as much as your knee high will accommodate. Then hang it in the kitchen.  That is all.  Use this onion for cooking as you need it and find it always dry and well preserved, never rotten.

Since I started keeping yellow onion this way, I had not wasted a single bulb due to the spoilage.

Tell me if you used this method!

See you next Thursday, November 22, 2012!