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Green onions are preferred by many in the Asian continent for their versatility, taste, and texture. It is used in many Asian cuisines as either the main ingredient in the form of scallions or as dressings. Another name for green onions is scallions or you can call it Pa if you’re in the mood for picking up the Korean language. Like many kitchen raw materials (food items), green onions do have an expiration and need to be properly stored. Hence, we’re going to show you how to store green onions and how long do green onions last.
You’ll come across tons of instructions and ways people store green onions. We will of course show you a way of storing green onions that have been working for us for a while now. Good food and food practices go hand in hand and therefore we will show you how to restrict moisture to reduce the growth of bacteria. This will help in enhancing the amount of time you can store your green onions. Before we let you know how long do green onions last, let’s look at how we store our green onions so they are crisp and fresh for a long time.
How to store green onions
Okay, so first you’ll be needing a chopping board. And we know that you’re wondering why would you need a chopping board to store your green onions? We like to prepare our green onions for storing before we can store them.
In the case of green onions, you need to get rid of the roots at the end. This can leave an unpleasant taste in your mind if you forget to remove them. Hence lay them out flat on your chopping board, align them and cut the end of (the one with the roots on it).
Your green onions are larger than normal onions as they do have long stalks. Cut the green onions on your chopping board into half. This way, you’ll have green stalks in one half and the other half will have the green onions with a bit of green stalk.
Be sure to wipe all the moisture out of the green onions. Before you do that, wash your greens as they can have some dust or dirt on them. It is always better to wash your vegetables and fruits before storing them in the fridge. Now that you’ve washed the green onions, wipe them completely dry using a kitchen towel.
Now, this part might surprise you a bit but trust us, it works much better than other methods of preserving green onions. Get three long paper towels and wrap one-half of your onions in them before sealing them in a ziplock bag. Repeat the same process for the other half of the green onions.
Once the bag is sealed, keep it in the fridge. Make sure you do not keep any other items or vegetables on top of your sealed bag as it will damage the produce. We prefer to keep the ziplock bags in the bottom of the fridge which is also known as the vegetable drawer.
The process of storing green onions does not end there. Now when you need to use the green onions, take out the ziplock bag and use as much as required. Wipe down the remaining green onions completely removing any moisture that might be left from the fridge. Put it in a new and clean paper towel.
Before you do that, quickly examine the green onions for any soft parts. If there are soft parts in the green onion, discard them immediately as it might affect the other remaining green onions. Now that you’re done with that, quickly wrap it in three long paper towels, keep it in the ziplock bag and throw it back in your fridge.
Continuing to repeat the above steps as many times until the green onions finish in the ziplock bag. This method can ensure your green onions last for a couple of weeks. However, let’s look in a bit more detail at how long do green onions last in the fridge and freezer. Before we go to that, here are a few tips on storing onions.
Tips on storing onions
Here are some tips for storing onions that can help prolong their life.
- Store in a plastic bag if you’re storing your onions on your shelf or in your pantry instead of the fridge
- The perfect freezer temperature for green onions is 0 degrees
- Soft and discolored onions is a sign of deterioration. Get rid of it immediately.
- Instead of ziplock bags, you can also store green onions in glass jars.
- Try to plant the white parts of onions if you’ve cut way too much for storing. Use the cut onions with compose in jars and keep it on your windowsill. You now have a good supply of green onions. As it grows, snip the top part as much as required.
How long do green onions last in the fridge?
Fresh raw green onions typically last between a week and 10 days. However, this depends on the product itself. If your green onions are in good shape, follow our storing methods and keep them in the fridge. It’ll last for a couple of weeks. Do keep an eye on those green onions every now and then to see if it requires any paper towel replacement or needs some wiping down done.
How long do green onions last in the freezer?
Raw green onions (fresh) can also be stored in the freezer for future use. So, how long do green onions last in the freezer? Once again, it depends on how you store it. You can store your ziplock in the freezer with raw green onions in it for 10 to 12 months. Once again, do keep on checking on your green onions in case they get soft over the period of a couple of months.
