Basic Kitchen Questions

[pulykamell]

@Girl_From_Mars

I don’t think I often have a half onion left over; few recipes I cook call for half? But say that I did, I’d either store it cut side down on a plate, or wrapped in reusable beeswax wrap - we don’t use plastic wrap or plastic bags in the house anymore.

The onions at the supermarket here are so huge that I rarely find myself using a whole onion for a dinner for four. A recipe’s “large onion” is probably equal to half of these softball sized onions they sell these days. (I can only find “normal” sized onions sold in bulk in the netting.)

So, quite frequently, I do end up only using a quarter to a half onion at a time. What I end up doing depends on how lazy I’m feeling. Often, I’ll just toss it in the crisper, uncovered, to be used up in the next two or three days. Other times, I’ll put it in a plastic bag. I don’t really notice any difference. The cut end may dry out a little bit, but I’ll just cut it off and it’s good to go. If I have a lot, lot of onion leftover that I don’t plan to get to anytime soon, I’ll just dice it and throw it in the freezer and use it for mirepoix or whatnot where they are going to get cooked down quite a bit.

[jnglmassiv]

@Girl_From_Mars

I don’t think I often have a half onion left over; few recipes I cook call for half?

You only use a little at a time for things like on a sandwich or in can of tuna salad or topping a taco or fried up with an egg.

[adhemar]

I buy frozen chopped onions and can then use only what I need at the time. I don’t eat raw onions ever, so only use them in cooking.

[Icarus]

@pulykamell

The onions at the supermarket here are so huge that I rarely find myself using a whole onion for a dinner for four. A recipe’s “large onion” is probably equal to half of these softball sized onions they sell these days. (I can only find “normal” sized onions sold in bulk in the netting.)

Yes, my conundrum too. Do I buy a giant alien mutant onion and store the unused 3/4 of it? Or do I buy a bag of proper sized onions and risk throwing half of them away after they go off? Why-oh-why can’t I buy a few loose proper sized onions? Curse you green-grocers and your Instagram ready giant produce!

[Bayaker]

@salinqmind

I read that oranges are gassed, or dyed orange- when they’re picked when they’re ripe, they are green in color.

IME, if they are green they are not ripe. Mine are satsumas, so I can’t speak for other varieties, but I have never had anyone offer me a green orange(heh) to eat. They can have a little green on them and be fine, but that’s usually just a bit near the stem-end that is heavily shaded by the adjacent leaves. Even they will turn all orange if you leave them on the tree.