Fragrant herbs - a wonderful seasoning, a vitamin cocktail that gives the dishes a spicy taste and protects the body from viruses and bacteria. Just as the housewives harvest parsley and dill, you can save green onions for the winter. It is frozen, dried, salted, pickled, pickled and canned. Each of the methods has its own subtleties. We offer you to familiarize yourself with detailed recipes, find out all the pros and cons of different types of workpieces.
What is the best way to harvest green onions?
Green onions are loved for their bright color, spicy bitterness, pronounced aroma and tenderness of feathers. When harvesting for the winter, some of these properties are lost. It tastes a little different. Some people like it, others prefer to eat it only fresh.
If you are harvesting green onions for the first time, we recommend that you try several methods at once. So you can decide which form of seasoning you like more.
- Dried. It has a delicate onion aroma. Bitterness is practically absent. Very similar to the seasoning for chips "sour cream and herbs." Color - light green and yellow. Somewhat harsh. Ideal for preparing first courses.
- Frozen. Freezing slightly dulls the bitterness and makes the onion less crispy. But most of its properties are preserved: good, taste, smell, color. It can be used in any dishes.
- Saline. The color, smell and taste of green onions are fully preserved. However, due to the large amount of salt, there is a risk of over-salting the dishes.
- Marinated. Additional ingredients change the taste of onions. Depending on the set of spices, seasoning acquires new notes. Best suited for use in salads. It can also be added to potatoes, fish, meat.
- Sour. Fermentation enhances the taste of green onions and gives it sourness.
- Canned. Green onions canned pickled, pickled. Preservation allows you to store workpieces outside the refrigerator and increases the shelf life of the product.
Only fresh green onions are suitable for harvesting for the winter: without dry tips and no signs of wilting.
Freeze for winter
There are 2 ways to freeze spices. For soups, it is better to freeze green onions in water. An ice cube will not only fill the dish with aroma, but also raise the foam, if suddenly you did not have time to remove it at the initial stage of cooking.
Recipes:
- In bulk. Wash the onion feathers, dry on a paper towel and chop finely. Lay out on a tray in a thin layer and send for quick freezing. After 5-6 hours, pour the greens into a bag (can be portioned), and then place in a plastic container with an airtight lid. Additional containers are needed so that the onion smell does not spread throughout the freezer.
- In ice cubes. Wash and finely chop the greens. Place in an ice mold. Fill each pan halfway. Pour water (if desired, it can be salted or seasoned with spices). Send the form to the freezer. After 8 hours, pour onion ice into a sealed container.
Quick freezing at -18 degrees allows you to save 70% of the beneficial properties of onions, and also increases its shelf life up to 12 months.
Sushim
Dry green onions are part of many seasonings and freeze-dried soups. Its taste and smell when drying takes on special softness.
There are 3 ways to prepare dried spice for the winter:
- In the electric dryer. Wash and chop the onion feathers in 2-3 cm stripes. Place in a thin layer in the dryer. Set the temperature to 40–50 degrees and dry for 2–5 hours.
- In the oven. Wash and chop greens. Dry. Turn the oven on to a minimum temperature (up to 100 degrees). Cover the grate with paper. Pour the chopped feathers of the onions and spread them in a thin layer. Dry with the door open for 1 hour, occasionally stirring the greens. Let her rest for 2 hours and repeat the procedure.
- On air. Chopped greens can be dried outdoors. Place it on paper in the shade. Cover with gauze to protect from litter, bugs and flies. After 2-3 days, the sun and air will do their job.
Dry green onions are stored in airtight packaging for up to 4 years. Ground spices are stored less - about 1 year. Therefore, we advise to dry the onion in large strips, and then chop it as necessary.
Add salt
Onions prepared in this way will stand in the refrigerator for 7 months, that is, all winter and even spring.
You only need a pack of salt (250 g), 1 kg of herbs and a sterile jar.
Recipe:
- Wash and dry the onion.
- Cut it as you used to eat.
- Tamp in layers in a jar: 2 cm of greens, 0.5 cm of salt - and so on.
- The last layer is salt 1-2 cm thick.
- Close the jar with a lid and refrigerate.
Kvasim
Like cabbage, you can sour green onions. So its taste and useful properties will not only be preserved, but also multiplied thanks to the work of lactic acid bacteria.
Recipe:
- Wash and go through the feathers of the onions.
- Cut them into 2-3 cm slices.
- Stir with salt (50 g per 1 kg of greens).
- Add peas and bay leaf to taste.
- Tamp tightly in a jar, add a little water so that the greens are completely covered.
- Put oppression.
- Leave the jar in the room for 1-3 weeks.
- When the taste reaches the desired sharpness, close the jar with a lid and transfer to the refrigerator or cellar.
At + 1–5 degrees, pickled onions are stored for 2-3 months.
Pickle
Pickled onions can be stored in the refrigerator for 2–4 weeks. For long-term storage, it should be preserved.
Recipes:
- Classical. Wash and chop 1 kg of onion greens. Pour in brine (120 g of salt and 1 liter of water). Leave for 2 days. Take 150 g of dill and parsley, wash, dip in boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain the brine from the onion. Mix salted onions with dill and parsley. Pour marinade (200 ml of water, 800 ml of 6% vinegar, 2 g of dill seeds, 4 peppercorns, 3 cloves of garlic, sugar and salt to taste).
- With honey. Prepare the marinade from 200 ml of vinegar, 500 ml of water, 3 tbsp. tablespoons of honey and a pinch of salt. You can add spices to taste. Chop the onion feathers and put them in jars. Pour marinade.
- With wild garlic. Wash wild garlic and soak for 2 hours in cold water. Wash the onion. For 1 kg of green mass, you need to take 1.5 l of water, 30 g of salt, 200 ml of vinegar or 20 g of sugar, boil everything and stir. Chop greens coarsely and fill with cold marinade.
Canned
Canned green onions can be stored in the cellar and just in the room in a cool and dark place. Banks and containers will not take up space in the refrigerator. The shelf life of such blanks is 1 year.
Recipes:
- Place the pickled green onions in an enamel bowl and bring to a boil. Add 3% saline if necessary. Simmer for 3-5 minutes over low heat, stirring constantly. When hot, place in sterilized jars that have not cooled down. Roll up.
- To preserve the pickled green onions at the stage of marinade preparation, pour the greens into a saucepan and simmer over low heat for 2 minutes. Then pour the mass into hot sterilized jars and roll up.
Green onion paste
A very tasty and unusual way to keep green onions for the winter is to turn it into a savory pasta.
You will need:
- 300 g of green onions;
- 700 g young spinach;
- 25 ml of vegetable oil;
- 1 lemon
- 1.5 teaspoons of salt.
Step by step cooking onion and spinach paste:
- Soak the greens for 15 minutes in cold water. Rinse thoroughly.
- Remove any damaged or hard parts. Cut the roots of young spinach, and remove the stems of mature spinach. Cut off the white part of the onion.
- Pour oil into thick-walled dishes (pan, roasting pan). Put the spinach in it and warm for 3-4 minutes over medium heat. It will greatly decrease in size.
- Add onions to the pan, salt and simmer the greens for another 3-4 minutes.
- Squeeze the lemon.
- After 2 minutes, remove the pan and place the green mass in the blender. Grind it until mashed.
- Fill the sterilized jars with paste and roll them up after boiling for 10 minutes, or put them in the refrigerator for storage.
Refrigerated storage under oil
Another quick and easy way to store chives. Greens under oil are mainly made in the form of assorted and used in salads.
Recipe:
- Rinse the greens thoroughly: onions, dill, parsley, cilantro, sorrel, etc.
- Cut off the dry tips and pour the rest with vinegar for 15 minutes (3 tbsp. Vinegar in 1 liter of water).
- Dry the greens on a towel, chop finely.
- Half fill the glass jars with it.
- Pour sunflower or olive oil on top with a layer of 2-3 cm.
- Close the jars with lids.
- Put in the cold.
Greens can be stored under oil for up to 12 months.
So, you can save green onions for the winter in various ways: preservation, freezing, drying, pickling. The recipes described above will help out if there is a lot of greens and it is not possible to eat it in a short time. But in advance to buy a beam for blanks does not make sense. It is better to stick the onions in a container of water, and after 2-3 weeks, fresh, juicy feathers will flaunt on the window.