Green onions also known as spring onions or scallions is a very popular sort of vegetable used in cooking. Unfortunately, we often have to face the problem of the untimely withering of it. Is there a way of storing green onions so that they remain fresh?
This article will give you several useful tips!
How to Keep Green Onions Fresh? A Bit of General Information
To begin with, let’s figure out why green onions go bad at all.
What do we usually do after buying a bunch of fresh greens in a store? That’s right, we simply toss it to the fridge – with no cover and no water at all. And we still hope that after a few days our onions will remain fresh?!
Unlike ordinary root vegetables and onions, green onion is more like herbs and leafy greens which makes green onions storage conditions a bit different. If for the ordinary onion it is enough to keep it at room temperature with a proper humidity to make it last longer, the green onion requires a more delicate approach.
How long do green onions last? Everything depends on where and how you keep them.
How long can green onions last in the fridge?
If you put fresh and raw scallions in the fridge right after you bought them and if you follow the proper storage instructions, your greens can last for one or two weeks.
What is the storage duration of green onions in the freezer?
When being put to the freezer, spring onions can remain fresh for up to one year or even longer.
Do green onions necessarily need to be refrigerated? Yes, they do if you want to have them fresh and eatable for more than a couple of days.
Otherwise, when being stored at room temperature or at the wrong storage conditions, even in the fridge green onions will go bad pretty soon and lose their freshness and taste.
How to Store Scallions. Detailed Instruction
So what can you do to make your spring onions remain crispy and tasty longer? First of all, keep them in the fridge. Unlike ordinary onions, scallions don’t like being stored at room temperature as they dry out pretty fast.
Instead, when being stored in the fridge, they will preserve their qualities.
To keep them properly, simply follow several easy steps:
- Take a high glass or a jar that is stable and pour some water in it. The level of water must be about two to five centimeters high and its temperature is cold. Room temperature water is also fine but not warm water!
- To store green onions in the fridge, put your bunch of greens into the gar or glass that you have previously prepared. What you need to do is to immerse its roots into the water. It will help the onions to take water and remain fresh longer.
Even if the roots were cut off already when you bought the onions, don’t worry – this vegetable will grow new ones the second you put it into the water.
- The next thing you need to do is to take a plastic cover (a small plastic bag will do) and put it over the top of your glass or jar.
It will allow maintaining the proper level of humidity and also will support the air ventilation and your green long onion will not wither soon.
- Finally, tie the plastic bag to the top of the glass or a jar but don’t tie it tight! The air must have access to the greens and ventilate easily.
Now you can put the glass to the fridge and keep your onions there. Remember to change the water regularly every few days to avoid mold!
This is the best way to store green onions, however, there are also other ways you can do this.
How to Store Spring Onions. Other Methods You Can Use
To prolong the shelf-life of your scallions, you can use other ways of keeping it eatable for many days.
- Keep on growing it
To keep green onions fresh, you can place them on the windowsill either in a gall with water or in a pot with some soil.
If you choose water, take a high and stable glass or a jar, put two to five centimeters of cold water in it and submerge the roots of your onions in there.
On the other hand, if you decide to grow the scallions in soil, take a flowerpot that is about fifteen centimeters deep, add some soil and put onions in it.
Press soil slightly to help the onions to stand up themselves.
Remember that, if you plant your onions, you must put them five centimeters apart from each other in a pot!
Now you can put your glass or a pot on a windowsill, and remember that onions require enough sunshine to grow!
Water your onion or change the water in a jar every few days to keep it last longer.
One more advantage of this method is that spring onions will keep on growing so you won’t have to buy it again. Only cut off the tops time after time to let the new ones grow.
How to cut green onions? Simply use kitchen scissors or a knife.
- Use a damp wrap
One more way to prevent spring onions from spoiling is to wrap them with a damp paper towel.
To do this, take off any cover from the onions if there was any when you bought it.
Wrap scallions with a damp paper towel and put them in a plastic bag. Don’t tie the bag tight as it must be wrapped around a bit loosely to let air come.
Now you can refrigerate your greens!
How to Preserve Green Onions?
What if you want to use some tasty scallions afterward and are not sure whether the onions will last for so long? The best way, in this case, is to preserve the onion by freezing it.
To freeze spring onion properly, wash it to remove any dirt and dry thoroughly. There must be no water or moisture left on the roots or the tops of onions!
Depending on how you will be using it later, you can chop scallions or leave it whole and place it into the plastic airtight bag. Like that, your onions will remain fresh for about a year.
