Onions

Green onions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We read that if you cut the blades from green onions and pull the dirt away from the bulbs, the bulbs will grow larger.  We wanted to try to test that theory out.  We have two beds of onions.  Below is our “control group”.  We decided to leave the blades, but pull the dirt away from the bulbs.

Control Group

Control group

 

The bed below is our experiment.  We cut all the blades about four inches above the bulb.  This way, we will be able to determine which method, if either, is better to grow onions.

Blades are cut approximately four inches from root.

Blades are cut approximately four inches from bulb.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next question we had was what to do with all those onion blades?  We had collected two plastic grocery bags full.   We have dehydrated onions before and made our own powder, so we decided to try to make onion powder from the blades.

Chopped green onion blades on the dehydrator screen.

Chopped green onion blades on the dehydrator screen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We discovered that you can make powder, but you can’t let them cool before you work with them or they will collect moisture.  You need to immediately grind the warm flakes into powder.  We weren’t able to grind them in our food processor because it just mixes them around.  I had to crush them with my hand and it worked out pretty good.

 

Grinding dehydrated blades into powder by hand.

Grinding dehydrated blades into powder by hand.

 

An entire Excalibur dehydrator full of chopped onion blades becomes a quart mason jar of green onion powder/flakes.  We give a parm cheese lid a second life and it fits perfectly.  Now you can shake some flakes in your dish or soup, close the lid and store it.  Next batch, we will seal airtight with our vacuum sealer.

Ground onion blades in mason jar with recycled parm lid.

Ground onion blades in mason jar with recycled parm lid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Gardening ~ Melanie