How to Keep Onions
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My nephew’s football team was selling 25 pound bags of Vidalia onions a few weeks ago as a fund raiser for their team. Of course I snapped them up, thinking of all the delicious dishes I could make with 25 pounds of onions.
And then they were delivered. Did you know that 25 pounds of onions is a whole lot of onions?
Well, luckily, I remembered my Grandmother would always have onions on hand from those she’d grown in her garden. She’d have them practically year-round and without any of the stink of onions going bad in her pantry.
You know that smell?
Yeah, I do too. It’s not very pleasant.
So I decided I either had to crank out one onion dish after another for a week or get busy storing them as my Grandmother did many years ago.
Here’s how you store onions using the good ole pantyhose method.
Keeping Onions
1. Cut the leg out of the pantyhose, being sure to maintain as much of the pantyhose leg as possible.
2. Push one onion into the bottom of the pantyhose toe and tie a knot as close to the top of the onion as possible.
3. Place a second onion into the pantyhose right next to the knot, tie a knot at the top of the second onion.
4. Repeat until you’ve reached the top of the pantyhose leg. Tie a final knot.
5. Hang the pantyhose on a hook in your pantry or preferred spot making sure that air can completely circulate around the onions.
Note: For 25 pounds of Vidalia onions, I needed two pairs of pantyhose. The number of hose will depend on the size of the onions, etc.
So now, don’t be afraid of buying your onions in bulk.
This sounds like a worthwhile reason to go buy pantyhose!
Wow, great tip!!! I’d never have guessed!
A million years ago, when we gardened, this is how I dried my onions and kept them. My mother taught me (I’m way older than you, lol) but she didn’t have panty hose, she had those old fashioned ones so no need to cut off a leg 🙂
Wow, that’s very clever. It must create air circulation so they don’t rot, eh?
My Mom and Dad have done this for years…but I seemed to “forget” about it…so now I’m going to start doing it myself. Thanks for the reminder!
That is a fantastic idea! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the tip! How long will they last this way?
I called my Grandmother when I remembered them hanging in her house. She said they would last about six months as long as they weren’t bruised, were hanging in a place where they could get good air circulation, and were kept cool and dry. Hope that helps!
Great tips… I am totally going to use your ideas!!
This is fascinating!
Who knew?
For real!? I had NO IDEA that people used pantyhose to store onions. I’ll have to give it a try!
For real!
Would this work for storing garlic also?
I believe it would work just fine, Bonnie!