Freezing Onions

Bulb onions store well in a cool, dry place. Freezing is usually not recommended since onions change flavor when frozen.

Preparation: Chose mature bulbs and clean as for eating. Water blanch for 3 to 7 minutes or until center is heated. Cool promptly, drain and package, leaving 1/2-inch headspace.

Seal, label and freeze. These are suitable for cooking only.

Source: MSU Extension

Answers:

Freezing Onions

Although I greatly respect what any extension office is recommending, I have done mine a somewhat different way for decades. I want to chop cooking onions only once a year, and although it takes me almost a week to get them all done, when it is finished, I am always satisfied.

I did note in your original directions that the onions are not further diced or chopped. Is this type of preparation what is being recommended for using in perhaps stews? Is the onion used whole then?

My methods are for general use chopped or diced onions, such as you would use in chili, sauces, casseroles, etc. I clean the onions (peel) and then rough chop to be able to grind in an electric mini-grinder I have. I then pack in a zippered ziplock freezer bag, expressing all of the air I can so the package is flat. I freeze these packages on cookie sheets until frozen and then restack in another part of the big freezer until I have a sufficient quantity to additionally wrap into a Wal-Mart shopping bag.

When all onions are processed, I transfer the Wal-Mart bags to a brown paper grocery sack for permanent storage (leave the plastic bags in place).

If I want loose packed frozen onion, I simply "dry freeze" the pcs. on a cookie sheet before packing in a ziploc bag. When I am doing this procedure, I make sure all other items in the freezer of a second refrigerator in the garage are removed because you will have some onion smell. The onion pieces are not pulverized quite as completely with this method.

I have not ascertained that the flavor of the onion is changed in any way following either of these two methods.

When I am ready to use the frozen onion that is not dry frozen, I simply whack the side of the flattened container against a countertop, causing some break lines within the product. I then guess-timate the amount of onion I will need and either defrost or throw the chunk of onion into the cooking pot.

Of course, this method does not work for those times you want to have sliced onion but it sure saves time and money for me to have the bulk of the onion I grow each year in the freezer and ready to go. (05/02/2005)

By ronsan