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| How to preserve onions |
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| jaihoon |
| 08/13/02 at 01:23:26 |
| How to preserve onions To prevent small onions from germinating and thereby going bad, as soon as they are purchased keep them to dry in the sun awhile before storage. Onions stored in wide and open trays last longer. Similarly to preserve garlic, separate them from their clusters and store them in wide and open trays. Do you break into tears while cutting onions? Try peeling and keeping them in the fridge an hour before you cut them. Heating the knife before you cut onions in also helpful. manoramaonline.com |
| Re: How to preserve onions |
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| Fatimah |
| 08/13/02 at 03:04:22 |
| [slm] Thanks for posting this, I'm certainly going to try this inshaAllah. Everytime I cut my onions I seem to :'( :'( :'(. :D Something I have always wondered... how can I make onion powder? I'd really love to make my own. :) |
| Re: How to preserve onions |
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| imaazh |
| 08/13/02 at 03:58:24 |
| [color=blue]how can I make onion powder?[/color] i'm going to take a wild guess here, so if anyone knows the real authentic way to make onion powder then please jump in. I think, what you do is slice your onions really finely or maybe use a blender and grind them up. then fry them till they're really crisp. then drain them mebe on some paper towels, wait for them to cool down. then grind them into a powder. (a coffee grinder works really well). i love to experiment in the kitchen sometimes to the horror of my family, so if it doesn't make any sense, please disregard. hope it works out! [wlm] |
| Re: How to preserve onions |
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| M.F. |
| 08/13/02 at 04:52:36 |
| Assalamu alaikum, To make oinon powder I think that the onions have to be dehydrated and then ground into a powder. I think it would be a hard thing to make at home unless you had a dehydration oven and a lot of onions or were willing to put them in the oven on very low heat for like 12 hours or so. Of course they'll shrink so you won't get much out of them. Wallahu a'lam |
| Re: How to preserve onions |
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| jaihoon |
| 08/13/02 at 05:42:58 |
| ??? why would anyone make onion powder ? I really am zero at these stuff ::) |
| Re: How to preserve onions |
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| Fatimah |
| 08/13/02 at 06:35:00 |
| [slm] I use onion powder and garlic powder like a spice...they both make food taste really good. You can use it on almost anything (of coarse not sweets ::)) I use the real stuff along with the powder. Some people just substitute though... Do you think a regular dehydrator would work? |
| Re: How to preserve onions |
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| mwishka |
| 08/13/02 at 09:08:34 |
| sis mariam is right, that they're not cooked, just dehydrated. sis truthfinder ( ;) ) if you mean you have the kind of small dehydrator that you use for fruits, etc. i do NOT think you want to use it for onions..... :P your oven would be better, on its lowest temperature - will be ~190-200ºF - and, yes, will take minimally overnight. (that is, IF you enjoy sleeping with overwhelming onion fragrance..... :D ) onions (peeled and sliced thin in sheets or crescents), like fruits and most herbs, can be dried out in the sun if you live in a greatly warm and sunny place. you have to protect them from um walking, crawling, and flying diners and snackers. a typical way people do this, homemade fashion, is to construct a raised frame using window screens as both a support and a cover, or mosquito netting also over the top screen. you have to be very careful to take care of them and not let them get contaminated, or moldy if it gets damp out or less sunny. when they're mostly dry, IF it's REAL sunny you can use a protective muslin cover also - this is not good to use until almost all the moisture is gone...) what you can make also, which is easier, is what's called onion "flakes", by just chopping up the thin slices, and using the dried "bits". (um don't put your "bits" in your grinder unless you're SURE they're VERY dry.......or you might get onion "gunk" instead. better to have - if you can - a separate coffee grinder for spices, except "nice" ones, like um cardamom, cinnamon, etc. which you might/do put in your coffee anyway...) br jaihoon, is "small" in this case meant to mean seeding stock? oh, and the reason people use these alternates to the real thing usually has to do with the quality of onions or garlic available -- the seasonality of the produce you can buy. (bleccchhh anything at the end of long-term esp. commercial storage....before the next crop comes in...) and like sis fatimah said, some people just substitute....i suspect those people don't like to mess with the messiness of real food..... :) another solution to that crying problem... :'(.....is really simple: don't cut the stem (root) end off, leave it intact and always work toward it. it's the last scrap in your hand. (never ran into that onion tears thing...don't know if i've always cut onions this way or am impervious...??....wow - something that DOESN'T make me cry....hee eheeee....but that's because it just isn't sad - it's HAPPY to put onions in cooking, eh??) mwishka :) |
| 08/13/02 at 09:22:50 |
| mwishka |
| Re: How to preserve onions |
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| theOriginal |
| 08/13/02 at 09:19:38 |
| [slm] [quote]Everytime I cut my onions I seem to :'( .[/quote] Light a candle. Unscented. The tears magically dissappear. (I know I know, there must be some science behind THAT as well, but 'magic' seems more dramatic.) Anyway, you ladeez and jentuhlmen try it and tell me if it worked. Wasalaam. SF. |
| Re: How to preserve onions |
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| imaazh |
| 08/13/02 at 10:19:02 |
| After a quick tour of the pantry i've just discovered: "Crispy Fried Onions", they're stamped as Halal, the product of malaysia and i think you can get them at your local chinese shop. My mum uses it to spice foods up and yes it does tend to enhance the flavour, especially if you cook it with rice. It would be pretty simple to make them at home too, i guess, the ingredients just say Red onion and palm oil and thats it. Sorry if i was a little off base before :-X. happens all the time ;D. good luck with all your onion endeavours :D. |
| Re: How to preserve onions |
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| M.F. |
| 08/13/02 at 11:09:02 |
| I guess drying onions is a good way to preserve them for places where you can't get them year-round. The get very expensive here at the beginnning of spring. But you have to cut up kilos and kilos of onions :P I don't think I have the patience. The reason you don't cry when a candle is lit (I've been taught) is that the candle burns up the tiny drops or gasses or whatever that are sprayed when you cut the onion. However there are some onions on which NOTHING works. These days I've been buy onions that make me WEEP, my nose runs, i feel like my tear ducts are going to go out through my eyes my throat burns. Ugh just thinking about them is painful. |
| Re: How to preserve onions |
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| jaihoon |
| 08/13/02 at 15:04:25 |
| boy! I didnt know onions was such a fascinating topic ;) |
| Re: How to preserve onions |
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| readagain |
| 08/13/02 at 17:38:23 |
| to get away with tears..i always cut onions in half first than put them in cold water for like half hour...i never tried the candle thing hmmmmmmmmm ??? im gonna try that...but cold water works...unless those are realy stubborn onions (which some of them are). :-[ sana |
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