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Storing Onions in Pantyhose?

I never heard this one before. Does anybody here store their onions in pantyhose?

I read the label on a bag of onions I bought at Trader Joe's yesterday and it recommended that they'll last longer if I place the onions in pantyhose, tying a knot between each one, and then hang them in a cool, dry place.

8 Comments:

My late ex-mother-in-law did. She'd hang each leg over a pipe in a room she used for food storage, which was more of a shed than a pantry, and just cut off each onion as needed. It keeps them from bruising, and also allows for easy evaporation of any environmental moisture, I suppose. They almost never stay around long enough to rot at my house.

Just don't store them in the fridge.

I did it in the 70's! If I never see another pair of pantyhose, I'll be a happy camper, Guess it would work in my thigh highs though. ;)

I just keep them out of the sun and away from the heat of the stove, and they last a long time. Like lemons, I rarely go a day without using an onion or three.

I like to use them for vidalia onions that we can't get all year round in Louisiana.

The pantyhose method definitely extends the onion shelf life and with sweet onions they can use all the help they can get. If you no longer have pantyhose, just save a couple of the mesh bags from onions, potatoes or other produce and clip them on a basement clothesline or suspend them somehow so that the onions can "breathe" and they are singlely separated and not setting on a surface. A dark, dry place is always the best. The material of the pantyhose actually has nothing to do with the "keeping" of the vegetables They just keep them contained in a very efficient way.
Also I heard that you should never keep potatoes and onions in the same container or even close to each other. Apparently something about the gases being released in the ripening or aging process also will make them them both spoil quicker. My onions and potatoes are now segregated and they are getting along much better.

Alton Brown, Good Eats, Bowl of Onion S1E9. Skip ahead to about minute 7, or sit back, relax, and learn about onions.

cooking monster

My grandfather used to do this with his yearly onion crop. he'd hang them in panty hose from the rafters of the same dirt floor building in which he kept his potatoes. Then he's pour a border of rock salt around the potatoes to keep the snails out. But, i digress back to you, if you keep them in a dark room, they'll last longer.

This is clever. I have "ceiling space" in my pantry that would make this very do-able.

I hang my stash of vidalia's that way every year. Small apt and small pantry, but that way saves me space and I've had them last a full year hanging. (only once because I kinda overbought) blush

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