We found a good deal on Walla- Walla onions. Our problem is storing or preserving them. We don't have a freezer, but we do have a pressure cooker. Has anyone tried drying them using a woodstove? We have a root-celler but it is very damp. Any suggestions?

-- Mark & Michelle (mnmlake@mtaonline.net), September 10, 2000

Answers

In years where our garden has produced a good crop of onions, we have successfully dried them in the dehydrator, as well as on screens outside in the sun, covered with cloths, or other screens. I have known some folks who dried them inside unused vehicles on screens. It gets pretty hot in them, and makes your vehicle pretty fragrant, but if you don't mind the smell of onions, it won't bother you! Lucky you, those Walla Walla's are great, as are the Vidalia onions from Georgia. Ours didn't do much at all this year, but neither did the rest of the garden. Just slice them and keep an eye on them until they are nice a dry. You can store them in glass jars or plastic bags, etc. Jan

-- Jan in Colorado (Janice12@aol.com), September 10, 2000.

They may dry all right -- I've dried onions before, don't think they were Walla Walla's, but for drying, it shouldn't matter too much. But I know they don't keep fresh for very long, only a few weeks, so even if you had an ideal onion storage place, they wouldn't keep through the winter for you. If it is cool enough where you live to keep the woodstove going, by all means dry them -- on warm sunny days when you don't want to use the stove, put them in the sun. Do you have drying racks?

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), September 10, 2000.

If I have a sudden oversupply of onions, one thing I so is slice them and carmelize them (saute in oil slowly for about 20 min or so until they turn translucent and golden) and then freeze them in bags for later speeding of cooking. I also pick up peppers on the local groc. store's "retirement rack", roast them, and freeze them until needed. I find that I'm more inclined to make high-falutin recipes if I don't have to spend hours preparing these sorts of things on the spot. You can also puree the roasted peppers and put them in a sqeeze bottle for a quick soup/sauce additive.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), September 13, 2000.

Walla-wallas do not store well. But have you considered canning them? They can well, if you can use them for stews, soups, stir-fry, or any other "cooked" use. (Pretty poor for the slice on a hamburger!) In my opinion, much like potatoes. Best used fresh, or stored, but they have a finite storage life. Canning let's you use them for any "cooked" use for at least a couple of years, although I do know some folks that throw out all canned goods when they are 1 year old. I don't. Canning is good for at least a few years, at least for my veggies and stomach! GL!

-- Brad (Homefixer@SacoRiver.net), September 15, 2000.

I have left various types of onions dry on the picnic table or on the shed roof for a couple weeks untill the skins are very dry and brittle they keep quite a while in mesh bags hanging in a dry place

-- David (nelson3@bright.net), September 16, 2000.

I grow Stuttgart onions each year. They keep in a mesh bag in the garage all winter. Early in the summer when the new ones are growing well, I slice all the previous years that are left and dehydrate them for later use in soups, etc. I store them in canning jars. Any type onions will dehydrate. No matter what you use to dry them, make sure they are crisp dry. I seal my jars with a vacuum sealer, but with a lid and ring would do fine, anything just to keep dampness out. I crush the onion rings when they are dry, so as to get more in a jar.

-- Hazel in WA (hazelm@tenforward.com), September 29, 2000.