Storing and Preserving Onions

Well, last week I blogged about storing fruit and vegetables in general but how about storing just the simple onion? The message last week was to keep them in the fridge, but this seems to be a way to preserve them for even longer.

Apparently, if you store onions in tights (or pantyhose for our American cousins), they will keep for months - I heard up to eight! Just place the onions in the tights and tie a knot in between each one, and hang in a larder or similar dry, darkish place. And weird wall art or what?

Organising your Fridge

There are so many clever people on the web who've designed fantastic, handy graphics to say how to store and organise all sorts of things. I have always been a bit confused about how best to organise and store food in the fridge, especially to ensure everything is hygienic but also so nothing gets lost and goes to waste. I know raw meat is supposed to go at the bottom, but that's about it really. That's why I was pleased to find this graphic from Squawkfox that sets it all out, simply and clearly. It's a total cut out and keep on the fridge graphic - brilliant!

I thought you should store milk in the side door, but I guess this isn't right! The things you learn...

Storing Fruit and Vegetables

I've found a handy graphic from the V Spot that tells me where is best to store fruit and vegetables, so here it is! It's interesting, as we always have apples, grapes and cherries (etc) out for the kids to snack on, but I guess this isn't the best way to preserve them. I suppose it depends on how fast everything gets eaten too.

Another top tip is to keep onions and potatoes apart, as they will spoil if stored together. And on the flip side, storing potatoes with apples will help to stop sprouting.

Preserving Fresh Herbs II

So I've just said how you can preserve fresh herbs so that they aren't wasted once you've opened the packet, but there are other ways that they can be used and saved too, which I think are brilliant!  These involve creating herb oils or butters and freezing.

For herb oil, all you have to do is chop the fresh herbs very finely, put in an ice cube tray and add olive oil.  Mix a little. Pop in the freezer, then, once they're frozen, place in a sealable plastic bag, label and use when needed.

For the herb butter, chop the herbs and add garlic for a bit of a kick!  Mix with room-temperature butter to taste and then wrap, sausage-like, in some greaseproof paper.

Place in the freezer for up to an hour so it firms up and then chop into slices about 1cm thick.  Re-wrap in the paper, ready to use when needed.  I'm planning on making some garlic bread with this - chop a baguette, add some ready-made butter to each slice and bake.  Yum and quick!

I have to say, this and the previous post of drying herbs is something that I do already but thanks to Jamie Oliver's new series 'Save with Jamie' for reminding me!

Preserving Fresh Herbs

If you're anything like me with herbs, you've got the best intentions when you buy those little bags of fresh ones from the supermarket - lots of plans to cook gorgeously flavoured and seasoned recipes from scratch.  But what inevitably happens is that I use about 1/4 of the packet, throw the rest into the fridge and forget about it until it's gone off.  So what to do with the remainder, so you're not wasting it and wasting money?  It's simple!

All you have to do it bunch them up with a bit of string and hang them somewhere fairly warm, like an airing cupboard or larder.  I've got some sage and some bay leaves on the go at the moment, and have attached them to a cooling rack by the oven.  Leave to dry out for a while - at least 12 hours - until they are crisp and then store in a jar or Tupperware and use as you would dry herbs.  They will last for ages this way.

Click here for another way of preserving those fresh herbs!