Conference turris::cooks

    I have heard but have never tried storing them in (don't laugh)
    stockings/pantyhose tieing a knot in between each onion and hanging them
    in the coolest part of your home (like basement).  
    
    My fried said they were good for one year like this.
    
    

    My mom and dad stop and buy them on their way home from FL.
    every season.  They bring me some by mine go so fast I don't
    worry about storage.
    
    My dad stores them in an onion bag hanging in the basement.
    He says that in the onion bag hanging they don't get to strong
    and they last all summer.  They usually are eating the last
    just before they head on back to FL. in early October.
    
    Judie
    
    

    What does hanging do?  If they touch each other, does that mean
    they spoil more quickly?  
    
    I've seen these new 'hanging' onion nets, but I thought they were
    more for decoration. 
    
    thanks, Kristen

re: storing vidalia and Maui onions:

according to a recent article in the local newspapaer food section, the
reason these onions go bad so fast is that they contain lots of water.
They will pretty much go bad no matter what you do....the article recommended
you buy in small enough quantities to use all the onions in a few DAYS...
I know this is probably hard to do when you know they will be out of season
soon.....

    While we're on the subject of storing, what's the best way to store
    garlic and why? I have a friend who told me not to put them in
    the refrigerator. Why is it better to have them at room temp.?
    
    
                        

    
    re: garlic
    
    Well, I can't tell you why you can't refrigerate them but I can
    tell you that they will rot if you do. Being the fool that I am,
    I tried it :-)  Just leave them out in the open. 
    
    Paul

    I am not familiar with your particular "variety" of onion. I have had
    good results by finely chopping and spread-feezing , then "zip-lock"
    bagging them for future use; especially Bermudas they also have a very high
    water % and freeze well maintaining their particular flavor over the 6-8
    months of frozen storage.                 <DICK>
    

    My assumption on the advantage of hanging onions is due to the water
    content, if you set them on something solid, they give off moisture and
    will be sitting in it where hanging, they are not sitting in a puddle
    so they will last longer.
    
    Just seems logical
    
    Judie
    
    

    RE: onions
    
    Yeah, I guess that makes sense about the water theory.  They are pretty
    juicy.
    
    As far as the garlic, I've always stored mine in the freezer.  I don't
    use it often enough to leave it out, and I used to go and get some and
    it would be all dried up.
    
    Having it frozen makes it very easy to slice and peel.
    
    Thanks for the inputs...Kristen

    Thought I'd add my way of storing onions and garlic.
    
    I store both of them in the fridge in the crisper section.  I have
    a specially made ceramic jar for garlic which has air holes and
    a cover.  It keeps for quite some time and retains its natural
    moisture. The onions seem to go on forever and they also retain
    their natural moisture.
    
    Flo

An important thing to remember about onions and garlic is that they are still
alive.  They are bulbs in a dormant state.  The two things that will hamper long
term storage are things that will kill them (such as the extreme cold of a
refrigerator) or things that will cause them to leave the dormant state and
start sprouting (whereupon they die in short order due to lack of soil and
water to grow in).  The same sort of storage rules as used for tulip bulbs, etc.
can be used for onions and garlic.

--PSW

    Re:  Garlic Storage
    
    I peel each clove and store the whole cloves in a small jar.  Cover the
    cloves completely with olive oil.  I also take some cloves and finely
    chop them.  I cover these completely with olive oil in a second jar.
    Then put in the fridge.  Mine lasts indefinitely.  I've had a jar of
    chopped garlic for 1 1/2 years already.
    
    It's great when a recipe calls for chopped garlic.  Mine's already
    done.  I just spoon it out.
    
    Sandie

    Garlic stored in olive oil?  Didn't we just get done discussing the
    problems of anerobic bacteria and botulism -- or was that different?
    
    ed

  Right. Throw it out now if you don't want to die. Check note 2263.6
  and later for more info.

>  Right. Throw it out now if you don't want to die. Check note 2263.6
>  and later for more info.

If you store the garlic in oil in the fridge from the START, there 
is no reason for concern.  At least the concern expressed in the magazine 
articles I read was for garlic in oil that was shelf-stored, garlic
flavored oil to be exact.  If not refrigerated, there is a great risk 
of botulism and that can be fatal...or at least make you very sick.  It
is truly not worth the risk.

  Are you sure of that? Refrigeration doesn't usually kill bacteria, it
  just slows their growth. Even freezing won't always kill them, it just
  keeps them in "suspended animation". If botulism is a problem with
  shelf-stored garlic-in-oil over a period of several weeks, mightn't it
  be a problem if stored for over a year in the fridge?

The newspaper article I read said that the problem occurred when the garlic
was added to oil that was then stored on the shelf.  It was due to the fact that
the shelf-storage provided the perfect environment for the growth of the
bacteria - something about the moisture/bacteria in the garlic.  

The article said that garlic covered with olive oil and immediately stored
in the refrigerator, as is recommended by many cooks/cookbooks including the 
frugal gourmet, would not be a problem because the bacteria would not grow. 

 IF you kept the stuff in the refrigerator for a VERY long time, maybe you 
would run into a problem, but I know I wouldn't have to worry - it don't
last that long in my house.   8^}

We recently received our shipment of Vidalia onions and the instructions that
came with them suggested wrapping each one in a paper towel and storing it/them
in the refrigerator crisper.

So far this has worked for us;  however, we're eating them so darned fast that
long-term investigation of the process will have to be done by someone who
is not hungry as we are...

Betty

    I store me onions in a cloth, string drawn bag & in the refrigerator.
    They keep just great.  My problem is how to store potatoes?? I read
    that keeping them in the frige is not good. There is only 2 of us & I
    only by 5 lbs. at a time.  Any suggestions?? Thank you.

    Potatoes get green if they get light on them during storage, and they
    get soft if there's no air circulation or if it's hot or too moist.
    So I store them in a basket in a partly open brown paper bag, the size
    that's the next one  up from lunch-sacks.  The bag lies on its side
    in the basket so light doesn't get in, and the open end allows moisture
    to evaporate.  In the summer they sometimes get soft toward the end
    of my 5lb batch, but most of them remain good and the soft ones are
    good grated up for potato pancakes, or mashed.
    
    --Louise

    
    
    As long as the subject has changed to general storage... How about
    mushrooms? Mine last only for a few days, maybe a week. I rinse
    and dry them thoroughly and keep them in a paper bag in the fridge.
    What am I doing wrong?
    
    
    Thanks
    
    Paul

    re .21
    Rinsing them is probably accelerating their demise - mushrooms should
    really just be wiped off with a damp paper towel, as you use them.
    
    As for potatoes, I end up buying 2-4 singles at a time, since they
    sprout otherwise.
    

Rinsing mushrooms is a no-no!  They absorb water very quickly and that makes 
them slimy in storage and soggy in cooking.

Best thing to do is to take an old washcloth folded in half and sew it up on 
2 sides.  Stitch the middle of a shoelace into the top corner like this.

           open      __________
	|=========+ /
	|	  *<     shoelace
	|	  + \----------
	|	  +
	|	  +
 fold-> |	  +
	|	  +
	|	  +
	|	  + 
	|++++++++++  stitches

As soon as you get home, unwrap the mushrooms (plastic wrap will kill them)
and put them in the bag and loosely tie the shoe lace to seal it.  Store the 
bag in a relatively nonhumid part of the fridge.  Experiment with location, too
dry yields dried mushrooms (still good in soups), too humid yields slime (good
in stock, but gross to the touch).  

If you are not into the do it youirself stitchery, Williams Sonoma less a bag
with the words "Mushroom Bag" and pretty pictures, etc. for too much money 
(mine was a gift from a friend).  One of those things you look at and think you
would never need, but after having one, it's something I can't do without.