How To Store Potatoes And Onions?

Have you ever stored your potatoes and onions together? What had happened? I am sure that it was not good news. Your potatoes might have sprouted, turned the color while your onions were also in bad condition, right? To avoid these things, you need to know how to store them separately and properly. Roll down to discover the secrets.

Should You Store Potatoes And Onions Together?

No, you shouldn’t. Like garlic and fresh fruit, onions produce and emit ethylene gas that speeds up the ripening process, causing your potatoes stored with onions to rot and spoil quicker.

In this case, your potatoes might take on the onion flavor. Perhaps you don’t care because you plan to follow a recipe that combines potatoes and onions.

How To Store Potatoes And Onions Properly?

Now, you know that you need to store them separately, but how?

Storing Your Potatoes

The keys of potato storage are darkness, coolness, and dryness.

You should put your potatoes in a well-ventilated storage container like a crate or a cardboard box with holes to evaporate excess moisture because dampness speeds up the spoilage process. This is also the reason why you shouldn’t wash your potatoes before storing them. In the event of dirty potatoes, wipe them off with a paper towel or a dry cloth.

Then, you store them in a dark place like your cupboard or pantry because exposure to the light for a long time can turn the yellow skin of your potatoes into a green color. Although green potatoes aren’t harmful, they have a certain amount of solanine toxin. Peeling can decrease the solanine level, but it’s better to throw them away. If you still want to eat them, remember to cut the green part before cooking.

You had better store your potatoes in a cool basement (if any). In case you don’t have one, simply put them in a 45-50-degree place. You, for example, can store them in an open container without a lid for better circulation, like a plastic basket with open weaving or a small laundry basket. Although keeping your potatoes at a warm temperature can make them sprout quicker, don’t store them in the refrigerator. The too-cold temperature can turn the starch content in potatoes into sugar, badly influencing the taste of your potatoes when cooking.

After buying potatoes, don’t forget to check your potatoes for sprouting and bruising to deal with sprouted and bruised potatoes timely. If not, the bruised spot will spoil, affecting other potatoes stored in the same place. You should cut the bruised parts and immediately boil your bruised potatoes and store them in your refrigerator for a couple of hours before cooking. With sprouted potatoes, remember to cut the sprouted parts before cooking.

Storing Your Onions

You had better store your onions in a well-ventilated place, such as your garage, basement, cellar, and pantry, because they tend to absorb moisture easily. Storing your onions in an area with too-high temperature and humidity levels can speed up the sprouting and rotting processes. Though the sprouted onions aren’t poisonous and toxic, harming you, they become mushy, which can affect the taste.

Before directly storing your onions on the countertop, you should put your onions in punched paper bags instead of plastic bags. The latter will accelerate spoilage and sprouting due to the lack of air circulation.

To make punched paper bags, you just need to prepare some brown paper bags (depending on the number of onions you have) and a hole punch. After that, you punch some holes in the bags and store your onions in these bags. These items provide your onions with good airflow, so they can last for a long time.

Like potatoes, you shouldn’t store them in the refrigerator because the cold temperature will soften your onions quicker.

Actually, it’s not hard to store your potatoes and onions without being rooted. Just simply put them in separate places. And paying attention to some storage keys in this post can help you keep them in good conditions for a long time.