How to store onions at home

Often keeping a crop is no easier than growing and harvesting it. The storage of many products is in compliance with a certain technology. So, for example, one of the root crops most demanded in each house, onion, requires a special approach, otherwise the fruits will rot and mold. After harvesting, many people think about how to store onions at home.

How to store onions at home

Categories of root crops

Onion varieties:

• small (sowing);
• turnip ;
• large.

Sevoks are not large odes that grow in the first year after sowing. They are not eaten, but only harvested as planting material. Turnip is eaten, this is a gastronomic bulb. Large root vegetables are used to produce greenery, flowers to produce seeds.

Storage should be taken seriously even at the stage of acquisition of planting material, whether it be seeds or whole onions, because it will be easier to keep onions and green onions in winter if you know all the features of the varieties. Not every species is equally well preserved throughout the winter. For bookmarking, it is best to use late varieties with a spicy taste, but semi-sweet and sweet varieties require much more attention and a completely different technology.In addition to selecting a variety, you need to properly prepare for harvesting.

Preparing for harvesting

Proper harvesting equipment is one of the factors that have a great influence on the entire storage process. It is not recommended to get involved in nitrogen fertilizers. Nitrogen compounds accumulate in the onion, and it deteriorates very quickly. About 30 days before harvesting, you need to stop watering the plants.

Many dig up onions and bend feathers to the ground so that the fruits ripen soon, but this is wrong. Feathers lie down when the time comes, and then they are stored much better. By doing this, you can severely damage the bulb or stems, and then the rotting process will begin very quickly.

Harvest

To keep your onion the most productive, you need to properly remove and prepare root crops for wintering. Based on the characteristics of the onion variety, it is dug up 3-4 months after planting. After digging the fruits, they need to be thoroughly dried. Harvest dates will also vary, depending on weather conditions. Usually, they start digging onions when the leaves are already completely yellow and dried. Collect in dry weather. The most common mistake people make is incorrect harvesting. Many simply pull out the bulbs and tap the rest of the soil on a hard surface.

Tapping the ground is not recommended: the root crop gets damaged, which significantly reduces the shelf life.It is best to carefully dig with a shovel from the edge, so as not to cut through the bottom, and slowly pull it out. Fruits must be laid out in a row for complete drying. In warm weather, the onion will dry out in 7-14 days, after which you can transfer the harvest to the garage or attic. The direct rays of the sun perfectly cope not only with excess moisture, but also destroy harmful bacteria. Knowledgeable people peel onions before drying. The peeled root crop gradually updates the flakes, which are the key to long-term storage. Then you can proceed to pruning:

• cut dry feathers, but not under the root, and leave 10 cm to prevent microorganisms from entering the neck of the fetus;
• cut the roots, leaving approximately 2 cm;
• removes an extra layer of husk.

Technology

For the longest shelf life only the strongest bulbs without various damage. Other fruits are used in the household for various harvesting, preservation. It is best to use a dry cellar for storing root crops, the air temperature in which is 0 ° C, however, not everyone has such a room. Before storing onions in the refrigerator, you need to equip a place in advance and pick up the container in which the product will be contained.For storing onions the following are used:

• baskets;
• wooden or cardboard boxes;
• thick bags;
• nylon tights;
• nets for storing vegetables.

The vessels for storing onions should not be very high, the optimal height is 30 cm. Particular attention should be paid to ventilation. Sacks or nets must be selected mid-size. The maximum height of the mesh content is also 30 cm. If a rich harvest has been harvested, then you can extend the storage of onions at home by distributing it over several medium-sized containers. If you put the whole crop in one container, the onion will begin to rot faster.

Keeping the root crops right does not mean hiding them in the farthest corner. Experienced housewives know not only how to store onions in an apartment, but also how to decorate the interior with it. Without cutting onion feathers, and braiding them in a scythe and hanging them in the kitchen, you can not only preserve the harvest in the apartment, but also revive the situation in the kitchen. Such products look original and clean the air in the apartment from germs.

Conservation technology depending on categories

Much depends on where the crop will be laid: you need to create certain fruits conditions.Storage of onions is to maintain a constant temperature:

• in the basement, a suitable temperature is in the region from 0 to 3 ° C with a relative humidity of 75-90%;
• for storage in the temperature of the apartment should vary from 10 to 23 ° C with humidity not exceeding 75%, ideally 50%.

During storage, it is important to monitor root crops and sort them every 2 weeks: sprouted bulbs should be removed immediately, and too wet should be dried again. It is unacceptable to store onions together with vegetables that need different storage conditions.

A representative of the variety of seeds can be stored in three ways: warm, cold and combined.

For the first method, the acceptable temperature is 18-25 ° C at a relative humidity of 55 to 75%. Such conditions ensure that the bulb will not rot and germinate. For the cold method, a characteristic feature is refrigerated storage. In autumn, onions are put in the lowest drawer in the refrigerator, if you want to keep the crop in the apartment, or in an unheated basement in a private house with a temperature of -1-3 ° C. In spring, the onions are removed, about 20-30 days before planting and kept at a temperature of 30 ° C, then planted in the ground.

Usually, small onions are stored in wooden crates with a volume of 8 to 14 kg, spreading the seed in piles.The combined method is characterized by a combination of the first 2 methods, until the cold weather approaches, the warm method is used. In winter, the room should be cold, as in the cold method, if the volume is not so large, then the onions can be kept in the refrigerator, and with the onset of spring the temperature gradually rises to 30 ° C. After 5 days, the temperature is lowered to 20 ° C and maintained at this level until planting.

Harvesting green onions

Typically, the greens are kept in the refrigerator, wrapped in polyethylene. So you can store it no more than a week. You should not wash the greens, otherwise it will deteriorate very quickly. To extend the shelf life, green onions should be cooled in advance and put into a bag: this way the onions will be preserved better and will not lose their properties for another month.

To preserve green leaves in winter at home, they are thoroughly washed, dried on a towel , finely cut and dried on a board. It is important that the product does not lie in direct sunlight during drying, otherwise it will turn yellow and lose its beneficial qualities.

During the drying process, you should regularly turn the mixture over so that the onion does not begin to rot. At the end of drying, fold the greens into a cloth bag and hide in a dry, well-ventilated place. To prevent bugs from settling in the greenery, it should be dried in the oven at least once every two weeks.

Important tips

Even if all the recommendations have been taken into account, the fruits need time from time to sort out.During preparation for planting, damaged and infected root crops could be skipped. It is also important to select fruits that are damp, they must be dried in the oven. To prevent damping, you can use chalk powder at the rate of 200 g of powder per 10 kg of fruit. Chalk reduces moisture in the air and prevents germination. If there is no chalk, you can use dry husk.

Most housewives try to store various types of vegetable crops together. It is important to remember that root crops such as beets and potatoes need a high level of humidity – onions should be stored separately from them. For the same reason, it is not recommended to cover containers with onions very tightly, otherwise it will begin to rot. To reduce humidity, it is best to place boxes with adsorbents in the room. It can be wood shavings or ash.

Even before planting, care must be taken to preserve the future crop. Shelf life largely depends on the variety. Yellow onion is the longest capable of lying. Its scales contain a lot of solids and ethers. Knowledgeable people use biologics to improve the preservation. Many of them can increase the time more than doubled.

Green onions are kept dried, in dark rooms. In fresh form, its maximum shelf life in the refrigerator is a month, and it is even better to plant onions in a pot and set on the windowsill, then you can enjoy the greens at least all winter.Many, so that the onion does not sprout, coat the roots with lime paste or burn them, but after such events the fruits become unsuitable for planting.

Generalization

To save the onion at home , you must strictly follow certain rules that allow you to maximize the time. For bookmarking, only large, healthy, not rotted fruits are used. The neck should be thin, and the scales should be tight. Successful preservation depends on how the crop is harvested, where it will be stored, and on the observance of certain conditions for each type of onion.

Before you put the peeled onions in boxes and put them away for the whole winter, you need to dry them. When cutting onions, leave at least 4 cm of neck, ideally 10. A prerequisite for successful preservation is the air permeability of the container. Throughout the winter, you need to sort out the fruits at least 3 times. The onion, which began to deteriorate, needs to be removed, and the damp – to dry. If you decide to plant onions, storing them in winter is an important point: no mistakes must be made, only in this way it is possible to please yourself with large and high-quality fruits.