I need to pull a lot of green onions before they go to seed.
Don't have any way to use them all up at once.
Thought of cleaning, dicing, and freezing.
Anybody done this? Does it work?
Quick replies appreciated.
HB
I am not sure what you mean by a green onion. Is that one with a green shoot and not much (any) bulb? If so they are usually put in salad or eaten raw - no? So freezing will ruin the texture. If they have a bulb I would blanch them first before freezing and then they should be good to put in stews etc latter.
David
"Higgs Boson" wrote
Dehydrator is the way to go for the greens. Leave the bulbs in the ground to come up again next year.
? That's a new one on me. I don't have a dehydrator & don't want to invest in one. I didn't know about leaving the bulbs in the ground. Figures.
Tx
HB
Yes. Some call them scallions.
=A0If so they are usually put in salad or eaten > raw - no?
Yes.
=A0So freezing will ruin the texture.
(**&%$()&%!
=A0If they have a bulb I would blanch them first before freezing and then they should be good to put in
No bulb to speak of. Guess if freezing is a no-no I'll give them to the neighbors.
Tx
HB
Since green onions don't freeze well for using fresh the best way to salvage your overage is to cook them into soups/stews and then freeze those. You don't say how much you have but at some point regardless what produce one has surplus giving what you can't use to neighbors is better than putting all into the compost pile. Many of my neighbors have vegetable gardens but we all grow several items the others don't so we have a loose swapping arrangement... just leave extras by the bagful at the others door... and if they can't use it their family members and friends can, solves the problem of how to use/store extras. Besides there is only so much freezer space one can devote to extra produce. Btw, the white portion of green onions can be pickled and canned.
Check your oven - it may have a setting you can use to dry foods. Mine does as part of the "proof" setting.
Cheryl
Will dehydrating onions indoors stink up the house? Should it be done outside in a shelter? I have never done dehydration before for food preservation. Just curious.
Freecycle (or similar) groups are a good way to give away extra food.
Una
They are pretty cheap home units. About 35$ for one (some cheaper, some a little more) that will do fine for home produce saving. You'd need more things than just this one green onion batch to make it 'price worthy' but for us, it's used a good bit.
Used for: making jerky (Don needs lower salt so making our own is the only way to get that), making doggie treats of 'jerky' (*significant cost savings* here for a corn/wheat/soy allergin set of pets), green bell peppers, onions (dried onions are unique in some cooking aspects and with those few things, fresh is not as good), tomatoes, rosemary, lavender, parsley, mint, mushrooms, fruits, and making 'fruit rollups' for the kid (another *significant savings* here). Probably other stuff I am not thinking of just now.
Unless you have other needs for the unit, I agree it will not save you any money to get one. Folks like me, get a good bit out of such units. The pet food savings alone for making 'treats' would pay for such a unit in 2 months in my house.
LOL! Planted some about 10 years ago. I'm still cropping my own from them. Chives too. If you pulled them out, next spring buy some at the grocery and plant the bulbs with a bit of green still attached. Both chives and green onions do well in containers BTW. My supermarkets dont sell chives with bulb on so I had to buy those about 12 years ago. Haven't bought chives since but I note they spread slowly. Green onions though seem like Dsffodils. Plant one and you end up with 12 in time.
It depends. If the smell of onions drying upsets you, then it will smell up the house for a bit. It won't last though so once done it goes away as far as smell.
I rarely do a load of all one thing except jerky or mint. I dry the mint for tea and don't want my mint tea to be infused with other things. I generally do 'similar things' like 'all fruit' or 'all herbs'.
The green portion of green onions won't dehydrate very well... they're best freeze dried. In fact most produce doesn't dehydrate well with home dehydators... unless one has access to a commercial dehydrator it's not worth the effort. If I had a glut of green onions dehydrating them would never enter my head... I'd use them in soups, stews, and sauces and then freeze those... I can use a lot of green onions in a big pot of chili, or pasta sauce... I can make a big jar of caramelized green onion relish for use on various meats, would be great on burgers and steaks, even tube steak... an awful lotta green onions would need to be cooked down to fill a quart jar. If you have the other makings a lot of green onions can be used in a salsa.
Use them to make chicken or beef or vegetable stock. Freeze the stock. Believe it or not, it gets better with age (to a point).
Chris
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