Onions are a delicious, easy-to-grow crop that can be stored for most of the year. If you are planning on growing onions in your garden, it is important to learn how to cure onions for storage.
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Why I Learned How to Cure Onions for Storage
This was my second year growing onions. Last year, I kept up with weeding which resulted in much bigger bulbs. While I didn’t do well keeping up with weeding, I still harvested a lot of onions this year!
Due to growing more, albeit smaller, onions, I decided to try a slightly different method for curing them this year.
Benefits of Onions
There are countless benefits to growing onions! In addition to being a flavorful, spicy addition to meals, onions have lots of nutrients that can support your health.
Onions can help reduce swelling and lung tightness, reduce cholesterol, and lower blood sugar. They can be eaten as the main dish or integrated into other meals for a burst of flavor!
When to Harvest Onions
When the onion greens start to fall over, it is almost time to start harvesting! Once the leaves start to brown, stop watering for about a week.
Then, once the leaves have fallen over, it’s time to harvest! This is usually in mid to late summer depending on when you planted them. Most bulb onions take 100-125 days from planting to harvest.
If your onion plants go to seed early, they will not continue to grow so you will need to harvest those ones early. Bolted onions that flower will not store well, but you can harvest and enjoy them early!
How to Harvest Onions
Harvesting onions really is simple. Grab around the base of the greens, as close to the bulb as you can. Gently tug and pull to loosen the onion from the soil on a dry day.
Once harvesting the onion, gently brush off the dirt but don’t wash them if you plan to store them long term.
Ways to Preserve Onions
This post will focus primarily on curing, but there are actually a lot of different ways to preserve onions! Curing is just one of the quickest because it doesn’t require processing.
- Curing
- Dehydrating (I use this dehydrator. If you pulverize dried onions in a food processor, you can make homemade onion powder)
- Freeze Drying (this freeze dryer is highly rated for customer service and durability)
- Pickling (I like the recipes in this book)
- Pressure Canning (I have this pressure canner)
- Fermentation (I like glass fermentation lids like these)
What is Curing?
Curing onions is the process of partially drying them out to build up a protective outer coating that will allow them to store for months to come!
You don’t have to cure your onions prior to eating them, but if you want to store them long term–curing is necessary!
Best Storage Onions
While you can store most bulb onion, some onions are designed to last longer than others. Here are some onions to grow if your goal is to cure them and store them long-term.
- Copra (yellow)
- Pontiac (yellow)
- Sweet Sandwich (yellow)
- Yellow Globe (yellow)
- Yellow Sweet Spanish (yellow)
- Stuttgarter (white)
- White Sweet Spanish (white)
- Brunswick (red)
- Red Creole (red)
- Red Wind (red)
I purchased both onion sets and onion transplants from my local garden center. Onion sets are just small bulbs that produce small onions. Onion transplants have greens and a small bulb and will produce larger onions.
If you don’t have a local garden center, you can buy onion seeds here (these take longer but can grow excellent storage bulbs) or sets here.
This post is a step-by-step guide to planting onions.
How to Cure Onions for Storage
After harvesting, gently brush off the dirt from your onions. You do not need to remove the roots at this point.
You can use different curing methods as mentioned below, but I choose to cure mine by laying them flat on the racks on a metal shelf in my cellar. Like potatoes and garlic, onions need to cure in a cool, dry, dark place. If you don’t have a cellar, a garage, shed, or basement will work, too!
If you want to braid your onions for storage, you can braid them prior to curing. Read this blog post to learn how to properly braid onions.
If the area you are curing your onions does not have good airflow, I recommend pointing a fan like this on them to help.
It will take the onions 3-4 weeks to cure depending on your climate. You’ll know they are cured when the leaves are dried out, the bulbs feel hard, and the outside skins feel dry and papery.
Once cured, you can trim the roots off. If desired, you can cut the leaves off 1 inch from the bulb of the onion. Or, you can hang or braid the onions to store them as I mentioned before!
It is important to store onions away from potatoes because this can cause them to rot sooner. Check to make sure that the onions are still dry and not rotting from time to time. If one rots, it can quickly ruin the whole batch!
Other Curing Methods
If you don’t want to lay your onions on a shelf rack like I did, another option is to tie them together in bundles with garden twine and hang them up.
Another option is to hang field fencing up in your garage or cellar. Then, string the onion greens through the rectangles until they dry out.
I have also seen people make their own foldable curing racks or wooden racks to save wall space. Whatever option you choose, make sure that the onions get good air flow.
Possible Problems You’ll Face When Learning How to Cure Onions for Storage
Drying onions directly in the sun can cause uneven drying. So, it’s important to dry them in a dark place–or a place with shade at the very least. If they do not have a lot of airflow, you can add a fan and turn them every few days until they are fully cured.
Onion Recipes
Here are some highly-rated recipes to try with all of those onions you grew, cured, and stored!
- Creamed Pearl Onions (for smaller onions)
- French Onion Soup
- Carmelized Onion Pasta
Other Curing Posts to Read
If you are wanting to cure more vegetables for long-term storage, read these posts about how to cure different vegetables.
Benefits of Learning How to Cure Onions for Storage
With just a little bit of effort, you can learn how to cure onions for storage and have onions for nearly the whole year! Growing your own food takes time and effort, so it’s important to learn how to properly preserve each crop to make them last.
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Thank you for taking the time to read and comment, Erica!