Information on ways to prepare green onions for the winter.
In terms of the content of vitamins, phytoncides and minerals, green onions occupy a leading position among root vegetables. Many people have heard about the benefits of green onions. It’s not for nothing that the best aesthetic decoration for dishes are the feathers of green onions, which also add richness to the taste
Green onions appear on our daily menu in the spring and do not leave our tables throughout the summer. But what about in winter?
Onion feathers can be prepared for the winter in different ways.
We recommend simply freezing onion greens and enriching your favorite dishes with the breath of summer, even when there is snow and blizzard outside. This article is dedicated to lovers of green onions.
Is it possible to freeze green onions for the winter and how to do it correctly?
If you want green onions on your table all year round, then you have two options:
- set up an onion greenhouse in a city apartment
- choose a method of preparing onions for the winter that is acceptable to you
For freezing, you need to choose juicy fresh greens.
The first method will allow you to provide the whole family with fresh onion greens, and the second - freshly frozen portioned bags of greens.
In the second case, greens can only be added during cooking (for soup, stew, roast).
Did you choose the second method? Let's start freezing .
The process of preparing onion greens for freezing includes several stages:
- washing the onion greens and removing feathers that have lost their bright green color or have yellow tips (it is preferable to cut the onion before it shoots arrows)
- root pruning
- placing onions on paper towels to drain
- chopping onion feathers (if you prefer pre-chopped frozen product) and white onion roots (these can be frozen in separate containers)
- if desired, blanching the greens (pour boiled water over the onion and boil for 2-3 minutes, after which the water must be drained, leave the onion to cool for a while)
- compact packaging of greens in small bags or plastic containers (to use up the defrosted bag in one meal preparation)
- squeezing the air out of the bags as much as possible, signing them and placing them in the freezer
Washed onions are chopped
Packaged in bags or containers
Bags of onions are stored in the freezer.
How long do frozen onions last? Depending on what temperature was used during freezing, greens can be stored from three months (if the temperature did not exceed 8 degrees) and up to six (if freezing took place at a lower temperature).
Freezing will not take much time, and you will preserve the vitamins and microelements necessary for your body.
Methods
Of course, the methods of storing green onions differ from the methods of storing leeks, as well as onions in storage and at home, and the methods of storing sets in winter, which we talked about earlier. Let's look at them.
Fresh
Only strong, good leaves without any damage are stored fresh.
The bags in which the leaves are wrapped are placed in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes, then they are filled with leaves, tied and sent back to the refrigerator for long-term storage.
It is advisable to designate a place for them in the vegetable drawer. In this form they are not stored for as long as frozen ones, but the leaves are always fresh and ready to eat in salads.
You can read a little more about how to properly collect onions for harvesting for the winter here - harvesting onions before storing for the winter. And if a person has a private home and the opportunity to store supplies for the winter in the cellar, then he will be interested in the article “storing onions in the cellar (basement).”
Tips on how to keep green onions fresh in this video:
Drying
Green onions can be dried. This is done using an electric dryer, in the oven or in the sun (in hot summer weather).
To do this, the feathers need to be washed, blotted with a towel and cut into 5 cm pieces.
To dry in the oven, you need a minimum temperature of about 50 degrees and several hours with the door open.
If you dry herbs, fruits or vegetables in the oven, then you need to constantly monitor them, because there is a high risk that the preparations will burn.
To dry in the sun, the onions are placed on a baking sheet or tray and placed in direct sunlight, covering the entire structure with thin gauze (to prevent flies). In 2 days the onion will be ready. And in an electric dryer it is prepared in the same way as any other greens. You can read more about this method here – drying onions.
Freezing
To freeze, cut the onion into small pieces, place it on a cutting board in one layer and put it in the freezer for 4-5 hours. Then the greens can be transferred to a bag and taken to a new portion.
This method will allow the onions not to stick together into a lump when frozen and, if necessary, pour out as much as you need, rather than suffer trying to separate one big lump.
But if you don’t want to bother for so long, you can scatter the fresh onions in bags or containers in advance and put them in the freezer. You can read more about freezing onions here – freezing onions.
How to store green onions for the winter? Learn how to freeze green onions and other greens in this video. Let's look:
Pickling and leavening
For pickling, take 1 glass of salt per 1 kg of chopped greens. Mix everything and put it in a glass jar with a lid. Store in the refrigerator all winter, and the mixture is ready for use after 2 weeks. You can read more about this and other methods here - storing onions at home (apartment).
How to preserve green onions for the winter? You can learn how to pickle green onion feathers from the video:
In oil
This onion is good to add to soups and salads, and it is ready in 3 days.
To do this, finely chopped feathers are placed in a jar and enough oil is poured on top so that it completely covers the greens.
The mixture should be stored in a glass container in the refrigerator. Shake well before use.
If, in addition to onions, you put finely chopped dill, parsley, basil and any other greens in a jar, you will get aromatic oil for salad.
Is it possible to dry green onions for the winter and how to do it correctly
Drying onions is a great opportunity to prepare vitamin-rich greens for future use if you managed to grow a large harvest of onions at your dacha in the summer. Don’t throw away a useful product that can be used in full all year round!
How to dry onion greens? There are several ways to dry greens:
- natural air drying
- in the oven
- in a convection oven
Dried onions retain more beneficial microelements than frozen products. In addition, during the preparation of various dishes, dried onions better reveal their taste, preserving their inherent pungency and piquant “acridity”.
Dry onion mixture is included in freeze-dried soups, seasonings, and is one of the ingredients for gravy.
Dried onions retain all the beneficial properties of fresh ones.
Advantages of dried onions over frozen:
- There are no germs in dried onion feathers. By adding spicy hot seasoning to soup or gravy, you provide reliable protection for your household from pathogenic bacteria during the cold season
- Onion greens increase saliva production. But this feature is so important for better digestion of food and metabolism.
- Vitamin C is completely preserved in dried onions (it was not for nothing that ancient sailors stocked up on dried green onions before a long journey, which saved them from scurvy)
The first way to dry vitamin green onions is in air
If you have time, and at your dacha there is a place in the shade and even with a draft, then the outdoor drying method is ideal for you. Have you decided to dry it not at the dacha, but in a city apartment? Then lay out the onions to dry on the loggia
Slicing onions for further drying
Drying process
- Rinse the onion feathers under running water. Cut off yellowed tips, remove wilted greens and rough parts of feathers
- Grind the prepared onion feathers into 2-5 cm pieces
- Place a layer of gauze on a large sieve or wooden board and place the greens evenly and in a thin layer. Cover the top with white paper
- Periodically shake the surface on which the greens are drying and mix its contents. Dry greens for 5-7 days
- Ready-made dried greens are brittle. It is easy to crumble in your hands. Place dried herbs in a jar on a regular cabinet shelf and store at room temperature
Chopped greens are placed on a layer of gauze and covered with paper.
Dry brittle onion greens
The second way to dry onion feathers is in a convection oven
According to housewives who have been using the air fryer for cooking dishes for a long time, drying onion feathers in it is also convenient.
- Place the prepared and chopped onion feathers on the top grill of the device
- Set the temperature to 70° and within half an hour the process of harvesting greens will be completed
Air fryer drying
The third method is drying onion feathers in the oven
Everything is very simple here! Lay out the prepared onions and set the required temperature (it should be 40-50°). Drying in the oven will take 2-3 hours
Pickled onions for the winter, how to pickle?
- For pickling, you should select fresh and juicy onion feathers. Yellow feathers are not suitable for pickling
- Trim the ends
- Before pickling hot onions, they must be doused with boiling water to remove excessive bitterness. You can also place the onion in a saucepan and bring it to a boil.
Pickled onions
Recipe for pickled onions - classic :
Ingredients:
1 kg of green onions 200 g of dill salt and vinegar to taste pepper
Cooking method:
- Sort the onion greens and rinse. Chop the onion, dried on a paper towel. Prepare a brine from 120 g of salt and a liter of water. Pour brine over the chopped onions and leave for 2 days. Drain the brine
- Prepare the dill: blanch 200 g of dill in boiling water for several minutes. Mix onion with dill and prepare marinade. To do this, take 80 ml of 6% vinegar, two grams of dill seeds, 4-5 peppercorns, sugar and salt
- Wash the jars thoroughly and place the onion and dill in them. Pour the hot marinade over the onion and sterilize for 10 minutes. Then everything is as usual: roll up the lids and under the blanket!
You can also prepare an unusual pickled onion with wild garlic , which tastes like garlic, but is not so spicy.
Recipe for pickled onions with wild garlic
- Onion feathers and wild garlic should be finely chopped and poured with pre-prepared marinade (sweet and sour or prepared to taste)
- After boiling the greens a little, you need to put them in jars and place them in the refrigerator for storage.
Pickled onions are an excellent addition to meat or stewed meat and vegetable dishes. A significant disadvantage of pickled onions is that they cannot be stored for a long time (only two weeks).
Storage options
Before storing green onions fresh in the refrigerator, you need to decide what they will be used for in the future. To prepare dishes 1 and 2, it is not necessary to keep the greens fresh, because in the future they will undergo heat treatment, but as a component of a fresh vegetable salad in winter, the onions should be as juicy and aromatic as possible. So how to store green onions?
Option for salads first
You can store greens in the refrigerator for a long time simply by using bags.
It is important to take cooled bags so that condensation does not collect on them and does not contribute to rapid spoilage of the product. To do this, the prepared bag must be placed in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes, then removed and filled with green onions. After this, the feathers are placed back in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator.
It is important to know that this method is only suitable for strong and healthy feathers without damage.
After this, the feathers are placed back in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator.
It is important to know that this method is only suitable for strong and healthy feathers without damage.
In this form, they can be stored in the refrigerator for up to several months; the main thing is to promptly inspect the bag and remove parts of the onion that begin to deteriorate.
Option for salads second
To please your loved ones with a fragrant dish of fresh vegetables right in the middle of winter, you can store onions using vegetable oil, which in the future will immediately serve as a dressing for the dish. You can also use greens in oil as a component of other dishes within 3 days after preparation.
To do this, the feathers must be thoroughly washed and dried, then finely chopped and placed in a prepared container. It is best to use glass containers with tight lids for this type of storage. After filling the jar with green onions, add oil until it completely covers the greens. It is recommended to shake the product before use, and to add more flavor to the jar, you can similarly chop other greens to taste.
Option for preparing 1 and 2 dishes
Since when cooking soups or stewing meat with vegetables, the greens also undergo heat treatment and are saturated with the released vapors, there is no need to keep the onions fresh. For this purpose, feathers can easily be dried, and the final result of the dish will not differ in any way in taste or smell from that prepared with fresh product.
To do this, the feathers must be washed, dried and cut into pieces of 5-7 cm, then laid out in one layer on a surface prepared for drying. You can use an oven, an electric dryer for drying, or simply take the greens out into the sun. In the latter case, it will take at least 2 days until the product is completely cooked, but there is a guarantee that the feathers will not burn, as can happen in the oven
When placing onions in the sun, it is important to cover them with gauze or a protective fly net.
Pickling
You can also preserve onions using regular salt. To do this, take 1 glass of salt per 1 kg of prepared feathers and mix everything. The mixture is placed in glass containers, covered with a lid and stored in the refrigerator. You can use this onion after 2 weeks
It is important when preparing dishes from a salted product to remember that salt will be added along with the onion, so you need to salt such food much less
Freezing
Modern freezers allow you to keep almost all products fresh for a long time. Storing green onions in this way begins with washing, drying and finely chopping. Next, the greens are laid out on a flat surface in 1 layer and placed in the freezer for several hours. This will allow the sliced product not to stick together in the bag during long-term storage. Frozen onions should be transferred from the board to a bag or tray and placed back in the low-temperature compartment of the refrigerator. It is best to use such a product for cooking dishes with heat treatment, since during defrosting, fresh feathers will lose their shape and taste, and their juice will simply drain.
How to pickle green onions for the winter?
Pickled onions will enrich the taste of any dish, be it a salad, stewed vegetables as a side dish or soup.
Ingredients for pickling green onions:
1 kg green onions 200 g salt
Cooking method:
- After preparation (washing the onion greens, removing the ends and drying on a paper towel), chop the greens and toss with salt
- Place tightly in jars and compact until the juice releases. Pour in vegetable oil and cover with lids. A cold place is suitable for storing pickled onions.
Pickling onions for the winter
Preparatory stage
To keep the onion for a long time, prepare the product before storage:
- be sure to wash the product, even if it looks clean on the outside, as subtle traces of dust and soil may remain on its surface;
- It is better to wash in a bowl rather than under the tap, as this way the feathers are less injured;
- remove excess moisture with a paper or waffle towel;
- If you keep the greens fresh, there is no need to wash the stems, just wipe them with a damp towel.
If you store onions fresh, it is not recommended to chop them, but to make preparations, it is better to chop the feathers. In this case, the size of the cut does not matter, it all depends on the method of use. For example, small pieces are suitable for sauce, and larger pieces are suitable for first courses.
Green onions for the winter in vegetable oil
Onion feathers in vegetable oil will retain their juiciness and aroma. In winter, you only need to open the jar to season your favorite salad or other dish.
Ingredients for green onions in vegetable oil:
onion feathers (freshly cut only) salt vegetable oil table vinegar
Cooking method:
- Prepare half a liter jars: wash with soda, rinse with boiled water. Sterilize the jars in the usual way for you: in the oven for 10-15 minutes or hold for 3-5 minutes on the spout of a kettle with boiling water. Boil the lids in a separate bowl
- Prepare onion feathers: wash and remove excess damaged or limp stems, cut off the tips, place on a dry towel
- Chop the onion. Add 1/3 teaspoon of salt to each jar. The second layer after salt will be onion layer 1.5 - 2 cm thick. And again add 1/3 tsp. salt
- Periodically compact the onion with a masher until the juice begins to release. So fill the jar up to the hanger
- For filling you need 4 tbsp. l. vegetable oil and 1 tablespoon (9%) vinegar. Pour all ingredients into a container and place on low heat.
- Keep on the stove until the contents begin to boil, and add vinegar. Stir and remove from stove. Pour oil into jars and immediately roll up the lids.
Green onion paste for the winter
Making green onion paste is not difficult. The main thing is to have time and desire. Winter is just around the corner, and it’s better to welcome it with a variety of preserves.
Ingredients for Green Onion Paste:
water 300 ml 8% vinegar - tbsp. l. 2 tbsp. l. salt, 50 g sunflower oil
Cooking method
- Grind the washed onion greens (you can add other greens for a richer taste) with a blender or meat grinder until it becomes a paste. Transfer the resulting mass into jars
- Pour sunflower oil on top. Shake the jar well to distribute the oil evenly. Add more oil (the layer should be about a finger thick)
- Close the jar with a lid and place the paste in the refrigerator. The shelf life of this paste is several months.
How to use the paste? Add aromatic green pasta to your favorite dishes and sauces.
How long does it last?
Greens keep well in the refrigerator. At a temperature of +3...+4 degrees it remains fresh for 2-3 weeks.
At a temperature of about 0 degrees, its shelf life increases to 1-2 months. If you chop the product and sprinkle it with salt, you can store it for up to six months .
Onions keep for a long time in the freezer. It remains edible for a year. If the greens have been chopped and soaked in water or olive oil, they should be used within 6 months.
Preparing green onions for the winter
- We take fresh, not limp onions with medium-sized arrows, rinse and remove the ends. If there is rough skin at the lower end, then cut it off too
- Having immersed the greens in a colander, they are blanched in boiling salted water (250 g of salt per liter of water) over maximum heat. After 3 minutes, remove the onion arrows from the water and cool under running cold water
- After the water has drained, place the onions in small jars, for example, liter jars. Add spices to taste: bay leaf, pepper mixture
- Place the jars filled up to the hangers into a large saucepan of water (water temperature - 85 degrees). Pasteurize for 15-20 minutes, roll up the lids and place upside down under a warm blanket
