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This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here. Wednesday, January 14, 2009 Hold your nose If I lived in a typical subdivision, I'm sure the neighbors would have been wondering what on earth I was cooking last night. I wasn't cooking at all--I was drying onions. I happened across a sale on yellow onions, a very very good sale, and took advantage of it. And then, I found a 25-pound bag of white onions for a very good price in another place. So we've had onions piled everywhere in the kitchen for the last couple of weeks, until I had time to do something with them. Here's what I did:A dryer tray full of freshly sliced onions.The same onions after drying.The easiest way to get onions from dryer tray into permanent storage, without picking them up in handfuls (guaranteed to move at least some of them from dryer tray to floor) is to gather them into the middle of the tray. This also helps to release any that might have one end stuck through the mesh. If your dryer has circular trays, it will be a bit more difficult, but anything you can do to get most of them in one place is good.Fold the mesh in half, holding firmly to both sides (because if one side slips loose, you're going to spray onions everywhere--ask me how I know this!) and use it as a funnel to slide the onions into the container. I used a quart jar because I happened to have one handy, but pint or half-gallons would be fine as well. Actually, wide-mouth pints or half-gallons would be easier to get the onions into, but I had a convenient quart jar, so that's what I used.The filled, evacuated jar, with my manual vacuum sealer next to it (and my yucky stained counter visible too). Getting the stains off the formica would require more elbow power than I'm willing to put into something that's about to be replaced, so I just make sure it's clean and ignore the stain.This jar is holding roughly 27 onions. I didn't count every one, but it took about three onions to fill each tray, and it's a nine-tray dryer. I still have the whole 25-pound bag of white onions to dry, which is going to be at least another three or four loads. Lots of onions in a very small space when I'm finished, in other words.Storing dry foods is a great way to use jar lids that have been through the canner once. With my mouse problem, I don't risk storing anything in cardboard or plastic bags, so everything goes into glass jars, sealed with the previous season's canning lids. The manual vacuum sealer is made by Pump 'n' Seal and is one of the coolest non-electric gadgets I've ever seen. I use it several times a week for sealing dry foods, and also to keep salads fresh (with the optional metal plates you can buy with it).As a bonus, I ended up with a huge container of yellow onion skins with which to do some dyeing later. I have some white roving that's waiting for it.One caution--if you're sensitive to onions, a whole dehydrator full of them can be overpowering. I'm not particularly sensitive, and these were mild onions, and I still had a sniffly nose for hours. If 27 onions at a time is too much for you, drying them in a separate closed room or garage might be safer.And now off to West Virginia, where I sincerely pray it is not snowing. This was the only day this week that the weather service said would be clear--I hope they're right. posted by Liz @ 8:31 AM | The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email toliz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 Feedjit Live Blog Stats
If I lived in a typical subdivision, I'm sure the neighbors would have been wondering what on earth I was cooking last night. I wasn't cooking at all--I was drying onions. I happened across a sale on yellow onions, a very very good sale, and took advantage of it. And then, I found a 25-pound bag of white onions for a very good price in another place. So we've had onions piled everywhere in the kitchen for the last couple of weeks, until I had time to do something with them. Here's what I did:A dryer tray full of freshly sliced onions.The same onions after drying.The easiest way to get onions from dryer tray into permanent storage, without picking them up in handfuls (guaranteed to move at least some of them from dryer tray to floor) is to gather them into the middle of the tray. This also helps to release any that might have one end stuck through the mesh. If your dryer has circular trays, it will be a bit more difficult, but anything you can do to get most of them in one place is good.Fold the mesh in half, holding firmly to both sides (because if one side slips loose, you're going to spray onions everywhere--ask me how I know this!) and use it as a funnel to slide the onions into the container. I used a quart jar because I happened to have one handy, but pint or half-gallons would be fine as well. Actually, wide-mouth pints or half-gallons would be easier to get the onions into, but I had a convenient quart jar, so that's what I used.The filled, evacuated jar, with my manual vacuum sealer next to it (and my yucky stained counter visible too). Getting the stains off the formica would require more elbow power than I'm willing to put into something that's about to be replaced, so I just make sure it's clean and ignore the stain.This jar is holding roughly 27 onions. I didn't count every one, but it took about three onions to fill each tray, and it's a nine-tray dryer. I still have the whole 25-pound bag of white onions to dry, which is going to be at least another three or four loads. Lots of onions in a very small space when I'm finished, in other words.Storing dry foods is a great way to use jar lids that have been through the canner once. With my mouse problem, I don't risk storing anything in cardboard or plastic bags, so everything goes into glass jars, sealed with the previous season's canning lids. The manual vacuum sealer is made by Pump 'n' Seal and is one of the coolest non-electric gadgets I've ever seen. I use it several times a week for sealing dry foods, and also to keep salads fresh (with the optional metal plates you can buy with it).As a bonus, I ended up with a huge container of yellow onion skins with which to do some dyeing later. I have some white roving that's waiting for it.One caution--if you're sensitive to onions, a whole dehydrator full of them can be overpowering. I'm not particularly sensitive, and these were mild onions, and I still had a sniffly nose for hours. If 27 onions at a time is too much for you, drying them in a separate closed room or garage might be safer.And now off to West Virginia, where I sincerely pray it is not snowing. This was the only day this week that the weather service said would be clear--I hope they're right.
The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section
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PERSONAL
WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT'
"If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart.
THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME
Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3
KNITTING BLOGS
Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits
FINISHED PROJECTS
SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE
POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES
BOOKS I'M READING
How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising
ARCHIVES
February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002
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