Onions don’t typically have a short shelf life but they can quickly go off if they’re kept in the wrong place.
While many people think that a kitchen counter or cupboard is fine for this fragrant root vegetable, there’s more to it when it comes to proper food storage.
A good way to tell if you’re keeping them in a less-than-favourable place is if they sprout, go soft or mouldy.
However, according to YouTuber Jerry James Stone, all of these can be avoided for up to six months by following his advice.
Sharing a video on his YouTube channel, the content creator said: “I’m going to talk to you about how you properly store onions – if you do it correctly, you can actually store them for up to six months.”
Jerry claimed that this includes avoiding one common spot that often seems like a safe bet for making fresh food last longer.
He said: “Onions hate being in the fridge, that’s the first thing – never put them in the fridge. If you do, they rot and go mushy.”
The cold, humid environment of the fridge provides the opposite conditions of those required to prolong the shelf life of onions.
Since the root vegetables absorb moisture very easily, the fridge encourages them to lose their crunch and spoil faster.
There is an exception, however, as this does not apply to peeled, sliced, diced, or any onions that are no longer whole.
The YouTuber continued: “The other thing about onions, is they prefer to be in a dry place, that’s cool and has good ventilation. So you don’t want to put them in a drawer, you can put them in a pantry if there’s a lot of air circulation there.
“That’s really important, you do want air movement because they put out a lot of moisture.”
A dark, cool cupboard is ideal for onions, but according to Jerry, they should be kept well away from potatoes and other ethylene-sensitive foods.
Jerry claimed that this is due to the level of moisture and ethylene gas that onions put out, which causes potatoes to sprout.
One of the only foods that are safe to store with onions is garlic as they prefer the same environment.
For the best results, onions are removed from their supermarket packaging and placed into a mesh or netted bag to maintain proper air circulation.
A cupboard with no warm appliances nearby is optimal to maintain the natural crunch of onions, preferably away from toasters and ovens.
