Onions 101

Cooking can be a real tear-jerker if you are not careful and onions will do it every-time! I love cooking and one of the most delicious, versatile veggies that enhance flavor of so many different foods are onions.  I have purchased the most tear-producing onions to the sweetest Vidalias that would never dare make a girl cry, but one thing is true, you have to know how to pick a good onion in order to get the good flavor.  Are you ready to lavishly live life out loud and pick perfect onions every-time? Let’s do a crash course on Onions 101!

Do you know how to purchase a good onion? Chances are you grab an onion and run, but there are proper picking techniques!  I am a bit fussy, I stand there and rift through the onion case and see if fleas are flying or if there are soft skins because then I don’t want them.  I have brought home fleas on onions before and that will never happen again!

 

An Onion should be hard, dry and should not have a wet neck, that is the top part where you will see the ‘green growth’ appear if you have held onto it too long!  Do not purchase an onion that has the green sprout on it because again, it is past its prime!  You can use that onion, but just know the middle core may not be usable. Join me in pinning more ONIONS on my Pinterest Board!

Onions can be refrigerated so feel free to buy more than one at a time but there is a down side to refrigeration: the flavor of an onion will transition to all the other foods in the refrigerator.  !  Heat and humidity will decrease the storage time of an onion.  Do not store an onion in a plastic bag in the refrigerator because that seems to collect moisture and grow mold! There are preferred ways to store onions, which means circulation of air around the onion. Store onions in a cool, dry location.

Purple/Red Onions are perfect compliments to salads, like potato, dandelion and pasta salads because they are sweet and have a strong flavor! Possible Tear Free Peeling and chopping:  Peel, and cut the root off Last! wrap it and through it in the freezer for 10+ minutes and then cut!   One other method we have tried is bread wads on the tip of our knife and then cutting the onion. What seems to happen is that the onion smell absorbs into the bread rather than into our eyes.  Problem is wadding and wasting of bread!

What might you use a red onion for? A red onion is one of my favorite purchases and I keep one on hand always.  A red onion can take a meek salad and make it dance with flavor and if you love dandelion it will rock it! Red onions are great sliced thin on burgers, fish dishes and mixed with tomatoes atop a piece of bread.

Lavishly live life out loud, enjoy those onions and leave those fleas behind.  There is nothing like the cool crunch of a raw onion on a bed of lettuce, on a sandwich or on a burger.  Sauteed onions make food dance with flavor so eat well and enjoy a more intense meal by kicking it up with an onion!