Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Eating and Drinking => Cooking, Storing and Preserving => Topic started by: MickyB on August 02, 2013, 21:08

Title: Onion Drying Rack.
Post by: MickyB on August 02, 2013, 21:08
I am not sure what to do with my onions for storage, I made a rack in the shed, will this do? Can I just leave them on the rack now? How much stem should I leave on? I think I cut some too short.  ???
Title: Re: Onion Drying Rack.
Post by: grinling on August 02, 2013, 21:21
Wait until stem has dried up, can be better to leaves stem on fully. Thick stemmed ones will not keep so either use or dice up and freeze (open freeze and then bag). It takes a couple of weeks to dry out and then store in a light frost free place.
Check for mould, softness. I normally slice and freeze come Jan/feb any left over.
Title: Re: Onion Drying Rack.
Post by: gavinjconway on August 02, 2013, 22:53
I have been told in the past to bend them over and place correct way up to stop rot etc... On the GH staging the necks are bent over and threaded downwards.  So I do it this way in my GH till they are dry then stored in the shed and garage on wire trays.
Title: Re: Onion Drying Rack.
Post by: sunshineband on August 03, 2013, 08:50
I am always wary of drying onions in the greenhouse as it can get so hot in there. John had an experienced which resulted in a cooked onion smell too, so I am now doubly wary  :ohmy: :ohmy:

The stems only need to be long if you are going to string them up, so any shorter ones or ones with fat necks you can just use first.

I stored mine in those heavyweight cardboard box-trays that fruit comes in in the supermarket last year - they stack well too - and this worked well

(strings snapped the previous year with the weight of onions so gave up on this, even though they look brilliant)

Nice racks there Gavin  :D
Title: Re: Onion Drying Rack.
Post by: RJR_38 on August 03, 2013, 14:39
Wow, I thought I had a lot of onions (101) but that is very impressive
Title: Re: Onion Drying Rack.
Post by: Trillium on August 03, 2013, 14:59
My stems were so long and thick that it was becoming a problem to store them for drying, so this year I simply chopped off the excess and left about 6" then laid them on their sides to drain and dry on greenhouse shelving on top of my wheelbarrows. They're drying very nicely so far and can be shifted out of the way if needed. 

MickyB, yours are drying very nicely.
Title: Re: Onion Drying Rack.
Post by: gavinjconway on August 03, 2013, 19:10
Hi Sunny - yeah it does get hot but my GH is behind a 15' high hedge so only gets sun till just after mid day so not get extremely hot.. The tables are just normal GH staging and work really well.
Title: Re: Onion Drying Rack.
Post by: sunshineband on August 03, 2013, 19:15
Hi Sunny - yeah it does get hot but my GH is behind a 15' high hedge so only gets sun till just after mid day so not get extremely hot.. The tables are just normal GH staging and work really well.

Oh good - no fried onions in your greenhouse then  :lol:
Title: Re: Onion Drying Rack.
Post by: MickyB on August 03, 2013, 19:19
..... MickyB, yours are drying very nicely.

Thanks for the reassurance  :)
Title: Re: Onion Drying Rack.
Post by: A Reyt Tayty on August 06, 2013, 12:12
Mine seem to be taking ages to cure. They have been outside on a rack, shaded when its sunny, and a plazzzy sheet over them when its raining. They've been up two weeks but the necks still feel a bit soft rather than tightening up. The roots are still also quite moist on many of them. I'd have expected them to have dried and gone brittle by now. This morning I've cut the foliage to within 2" of the bulb to try to rectify this. I expect I've dropped one again, but you live and learn I suppose.