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Preserve

To Preserve Onions

A method for preserving onions by hanging them in a dry, cold environment.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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To Preserve Onions

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pick and sort onions, using soft or thick‑necked ones first.

String and hang

  1. Tie onions on a rope of dry straw, ensuring they do not touch each other.

  2. Alternatively, use a thin packing needle and strong thread to string them, passing the needle in at the bottom and out at the top.

  3. Hang the onions in the coldest and driest part of the kitchen.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Onions
The produce being preserved; firm, sound bulbs keep longest in dry, cool air.

The step that matters

Hang the onions in the coldest and driest part of the kitchen. Cold, dry air slows sprouting and slows the growth of rot and mould, while moisture encourages both. Onions that touch can trap damp and spread rot, so spacing matters too.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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