- a real storehouse of vitamins and nutrients. In addition, it has excellent taste properties and serves as an invariable ingredient in the preparation of many dishes. Subject to simple rules you can freeze this vegetable, making a useful preparation for the winter. After all, this method allows you to maximize the preservation of nutrients in the product. At the same time, it can be immediately used for culinary purposes without resorting to pre-processing, which will shorten the cooking time.

Vegetables intended for long-term storage must be fresh and of good quality. When choosing tubers for freezing, pay attention that there are no traces of mold, stains, softened spots and other defects on them. Selected bulbs must be peeled, rinsed and dried on a waffle towel. However, if you just send the vegetables to the freezer, the experiment will not be successful. The fact is that this culture is not friendly with low temperatures and, with a good minus, can become watery and lethargic... Therefore, we bring to your attention some of the most popular and proven by experienced housewives options for how to freeze for the winter onion.

Heat treatment as a way to prepare onions for wintering

For frying, cut the onion into cubes or half rings and simmer it lightly in a little vegetable oil. After that, fold in a colander, pack in a plastic bag. The vegetables can now be safely placed in the freezer. They will surely retain flavor and density. The advantages of this harvesting method include the fact that onions fried in vegetable oil do not completely freeze and harden. This can shorten the cooking time, as no preliminary defrosting is required.

In this case, the main thing is not to overdo it, because over-fried foods can also hardly tolerate sub-zero temperatures. By the way, if in your freezer there is not enough space, then you can put the blanched onion in a glass jar in dense layers, close the lid and store it in the refrigerator.

For boiling, cut the peeled onion into cubes. Pour 2 liters of water into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add a tablespoon of table salt, place the vegetables in a bowl, and blanch for five minutes. Then you should take out the onion, rinse in plenty of cold water. Let the liquid drain, put the workpiece in plastic containers and send it to the freezer.

Onions, cut into small cubes, can be put into a bag after heat treatment. At the same time, pay attention to the fact that about two free centimeters remain in the upper part of the bag, because freezing makes this vegetable expand slightly. Close the bag tightly, gently squeeze out the collected air. This is necessary in order to ensure the tightness necessary for high-quality freezing and long-term storage. Using your hands, spread the slices evenly over the surface of the bag, lay out the baking sheet and gently press down on the surface with your palms. With the help of such a manipulation, you will not only get rid of excess air, but also save space in the freezer.

Can onions be frozen without heat treatment?

Freezing onions for the winter is possible without thermal exposure, but you will have to resort to minimal pickling. Cut the vegetable into half rings, place in a deep bowl and sprinkle with one to three ratio of table salt. After that, pack the resulting workpiece into the intended containers. Before cooking, onion rings must be soaked in cold water for 30 minutes so that excess salt comes out.

Onions can be lightly dried in the oven before freezing for the winter. The process will eliminate excess liquid, ensuring long-term preservation of the workpiece. Put the pre-prepared, thoroughly dried and chopped vegetables on a baking sheet greased with sunflower oil, and put it in the oven for five minutes (at a temperature of one hundred and eighty degrees). The product is ready to be frozen.

It is recommended to freeze onions at minus eighteen degrees. Store the workpiece at 5–20 ° C below zero. The maximum period is about six months, but it is recommended to use the product within two to three months.

Foil can be used. For this preparation, mix the chopped product with herbs and butter. Place the mass on food foil, wrap and crimp to release air. When this sausage freezes, cut it into slices and re-freeze them. They will then serve as the basis for the preparation of second courses, because such a “pill” contains onions, oil, and herbs.

Also, by freezing, you can save green onions for the winter, which is useful for decorating dishes and giving them a special summer taste. So, rinse the green feathers, dry them on a wooden board. This is necessary so that the greens do not become clumped during the freezing process. Chop finely after drying. Spread the chopped greens in handfuls in special bags or airtight containers. In order for the preparation to be better stored and tastier, knowledgeable housewives recommend adding a little dill to it. This will allow you to provide your household with fresh herbs without resorting to dried spices, which are of no use.

Defrosting properly and using onions

Such a blank can be used to prepare various culinary dishes - vegetable stews, various soups, minced meat, etc. Such an additive will give food a special taste and aroma, as well as saturate it with vitamins and nutrients that are rich in onions. It is not recommended to add frozen vegetables raw, without heat treatment. It is impossible to re-freeze the product, since it becomes slippery, lethargic, acquires an unpleasant odor and loses most of its useful properties.

Defrosting can be done by the following methods:

1. In fridge. The process will take quite a long time (up to three hours), but it will preserve the solid consistency of the product and its characteristic aroma.
2. At room temperature. To do this, just leave the workpiece on the table. The speed of the process depends on the temperature of the freezing and storage of the product. It should be noted that in this case the vegetable softens and becomes watery. However, the taste is preserved, so the product can be used in cooking.
3. In the microwave. This option allows you to significantly save time, the process will take no more than five minutes. But if you overdo it, then defrosting can go into the cooking process. To prevent this from happening, set the power indicators of the microwave oven to the lowest mode.
4. In water. It is believed that if frozen onions are placed in a bowl of cold water for several hours before use, then their taste will be exactly the same as that of a fresh vegetable.
5. In some cases, the product is used without defrosting, for example, if you have prepared pre-fried onions.

Description

Frozen onion is a valuable preparation for the winter, which contains the most popular vegetable in cooking. For the preparation of almost all dishes, onions are used as a flavoring and aromatic additive and in most cases it is an indispensable ingredient. Moreover, everyone knows that this vegetable is "evil" and during its cutting, probably all tears flow from their eyes. However, due to this factor, the use of the bow did not diminish. Moreover, many ways have been found to reduce this sharpness. For example, if you cut an onion in half and then hold it under cold water for several minutes, then it will no longer cause tears.
As it turned out, frozen onions are many times more convenient to use than fresh ones. Firstly, a frozen vegetable does not require initial preparation, because it is harvested in a peeled and chopped form. So, if you decide to make any dish with frozen onions, you should only take it out of the freezer and place it in a preheated pan. At the same time, the cooking time is significantly reduced.
In order to properly freeze the onion in the freezer for the winter and its shelf life was maximum, be sure to follow the instructions below with a photo. By the way, you can freeze onions in this way at any time of the year, because even in winter there are no problems with its acquisition. Such an onion preparation is necessary for everyone and always!
So, we propose to start the process of preparing the onion, and then freeze it.

Ingredients

Frozen onion - recipe

Let's start by peeling the onions. It must be removed from all the husks, and then rinsed. For freezing, onions are suitable only in good condition, spoiled or slightly spoiled vegetables in our case are not suitable. The shelf life of the workpiece depends on the freshness of the product.

A chopper blender is best for chopping onions. Place vegetables cut in quarters into its bowl, but do not overload it. Chop vegetables one onion at a time.

In order not to end up with onion porridge, you must use a blender correctly. Chopping the onion is only necessary at a low speed, and it is not recommended to clamp the button for this. It is better to press it five or six times for a few seconds, and then release it..

Thus, beautiful uniform onion pieces are obtained and they are far from the consistency of porridge.

We place all the chopped onions in one common bowl, and then lay them out in bags. Usually, this vegetable is frozen in plastic bags, but you can also use glassware for this. One bag should contain just as much onion as is needed to prepare one serving of soup or other dish. Now the bags with the blank should be tightly tied, but first let all the air out of them. In this case, during the freezing process, the onions will not stick together and remain the same crumbly. In a day, the onion preparation for the winter will completely freeze.

So, you can freeze the "extra" onion.

Only peeled, thoroughly washed onions are suitable for freezing. When peeling an onion, I always put it in cold water, so it becomes less teary.

Put the chopped onion in a bag with a slider fastener. We expel excess air from the bag, be sure to sign our workpiece. Such a note is absolutely necessary. The fact is that onions retain their special taste and aroma for a short time - about two months. It can certainly be stored for up to six months, but the onion begins to change its structure and lose its specific smell. Therefore, a sticker indicating the date of freezing is an extremely necessary thing.

The remaining onion can be chopped in the usual way - in small cubes. You can use the freezer bag again, or you can put chopped onions into a food container.

Make sure that this container is suitable for freezing. To check if food can be frozen in this container, you need to look for an icon with a snowflake on it - this will mean that the food container can withstand low temperatures.

So, put the onion in a dry and clean container, sign the freeze and send it to the freezer.

Thus, in literally 10 minutes, we saved the peeled onions that were unnecessary at the moment and made ourselves preparations for future dishes. When you need to quickly cook or scrambled eggs with vegetables, it will be enough just to get the frozen onion in half rings. And send it frozen to the pan. When frying, you need to make sure that all excess liquid evaporates.

How to store onions so that there are fewer losses? In this article, I decided to talk about how to store onions and how to prepare them for storage. There will also be some useful tips... You will surely find something new for yourself.

Storing onions is a feasible task. Well-ripened bulbs are in a state of complete physiological rest and are perfectly stored at home at a certain temperature and humidity. The key to long-term storage of onions is compliance with cultivation agrotechnics, including proper harvesting and preparation for storage.

How do I prepare onions for storage?

The preparation of onions for storage begins from the moment they are harvested.

Onions are harvested 90-120 days after planting (harvest time depends on the variety). As a rule, onions are harvested in August. By this time, the leaves begin to turn yellow and lie down, the bulbs are poured, and the necks become thin.

It is advisable to harvest onions in dry weather as follows: the bulbs are dug in so as not to injure the bottom, and they are carefully folded. It is not recommended to pull out bulbs, throw them, knock on the ground. This will damage them and shorten their shelf life.

How to dry onions after harvesting?

Storage of onions is much more effective after thorough drying. For this, the bulbs together with the leaves laid out in a thin layer on fresh air... If weather conditions do not allow drying the onion in this way, then it is laid out on the floor or on shelves in the yard (under a cover), on a veranda or balcony.

There are other drying methods. You can tie the bulbs into small bunches and hang them outdoors under a canopy or indoors in a draft. If you live in a comfortable apartment and have a small harvest, then you can dry the onions in the oven. To do this, heat the oven to the minimum temperature, periodically turning it on and off. It is important that the onion does not dry out and that the covering scales do not crack.

After the onion has dried, it must be trimmed. For this, it is more convenient to use scissors. Cut dry leaves so that a neck 4-6 cm long and roots remain, without touching the bottom of the bulb.

The surface of the bulbs is slightly cleaned of soil and upper cracked scales.

Then the onion is dried for two weeks, stirring it regularly.

For storage, onions are carefully sorted, selecting strong, healthy bulbs with no damage or seedlings with dry closed necks. This is the preparation of the onion for storage.

By the way, the methods of storing leeks and onions are radically different from each other. Although, what is there to be surprised? .. They are also outwardly completely different.

Onion keeping ability

It should be noted that not all varieties of onions are stored equally well. It is advisable to leave for storage late, as well as sharp varieties of onions, which are distinguished by high keeping quality.

Keeping capacity also directly depends on the degree of ripening of the bulbs, so harvest the crop in a timely manner.

Yalta onion - one of the famous varieties of sweet onions, which is grown exclusively in the Crimea. A feature of this variety is its unsatisfactory keeping quality. The storage period for Yalta (or Crimean) onions is only 120 days, after which they begin to sprout. Therefore, it is not suitable for long-term storage. However, subject to the cultivation technology, harvest time and proper storage, Crimean onions can still be preserved.

Of course, Crimeans know how to store Yalta onions best of all. It is not for nothing that they sell it in the form of beautiful bundles. Therefore, if you managed to purchase a bundle of sweet Crimean onions, then store it in this form, hanging it from the bar in the kitchen or in the pantry.

How to store onions properly?

Dried and selected onions are put in a specially prepared container. So, for storing onions at home they use:

• wooden boxes;
• wicker baskets;
• fabric bags;
• special nets for storing vegetables;
• nylon stockings.

Boxes and boxes should be small, no more than 30 cm high and have holes for ventilation. Bags and nets should be take medium-sized ones, and the layer of the onions to be poured should also not exceed 30 cm. It is better to put the onions in several boxes or bags than to pour them into one large one. This is more likely to save the harvest.

Do not use polyethylene bags to store onions. This material does not allow moisture and air to pass through, so the onions quickly fog up and begin to rot.

How to store onions as long as possible and with minimal waste? The principle "check" will help here. During the entire storage period, it is necessary from time to time (2-3 times during the entire storage period) to sort out the onions and discard the spoiled bulbs. This will preserve the rest of the onions until spring.

If the onion is damp during storage, it should be dried and put into a new dry container.

Do you know how to store onions in an apartment in the most efficient and useful way? This is the storage of onions in a proven folk way, namely in the form of woven braids or so-called bundles. For this, the onion is not cut off, the braids are woven from dry leaves using twine. In this form, onions are perfectly stored. In addition, onion braids are a decoration of the kitchen interior and a means of air disinfection in the apartment due to the phytoncidal properties of this plant.

Where to store onions?

For storing onions in the house the best option is a basement or cellar, provided that the air temperature in it does not drop significantly below zero. Dark and cool places are chosen for storing onions in an apartment. For example, by the balcony.

At what temperature should onions be stored?

To store onions, you must create the following conditions:

The most difficult task when creating conditions - this is the provision of a relatively constant level of air humidity. And this is very important, because at low humidity, the bulbs dry out. Increased humidity encourages the bulb to emerge from a dormant state, which leads to its germination, as well as the development of diseases (for example, cervical rot, which causes mold).

For storage of food onions, 3 main storage methods are used, differing in temperature conditions:

• cold (onions are stored at a temperature of 0 ... -3 ° C);
• warm (storage temperature of onions is + 18 ... + 22 ° С);
• combined (cold-warm). With this method, the onion is stored as follows: in the fall at a temperature of + 18 ... + 22 ° C, in the winter at 0 ... -3 ° C (the room is sharply cooled), and in the spring the temperature is again raised to + 18 ... + 22 ° C.

Little tricks for long-term storage of onions

Take note of tips to help you store onions:

So, to summarize ...

You already know how to store onions in winter with minimal losses, as well as how to properly harvest onions and prepare them for storage. And if someone asks you how to store onions, you will probably remember the helpful tips from this article. Yes, onions perfectly retain their properties for a long time, but nevertheless they also require your attention.