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aliris19

Burying to the root of this problem: how to do you store yours?

aliris19
12 years ago

I think there have been a few posts about this lately but I'd like to try again. I'm pondering roots: what to do with mine, how to store them.

First, some terms... by "roots" I mean, I guess, potatoes, onions probably - all hard onions that is, like shallots, yellow. Garlic. Probably I don't mean carrots or beets as they go in the fridge, at least in the city.

There have been a lot of past threads. This one is about the roots that don't bedevil city-dwellers, by-and-large:

Somewhat kitchen-related.... long-term carrot storage?

I guess this next is spot-on what I'm wondering about, the storage of onions and potatoes in a city-kitchen: RE: Any opinions on sliding baskets for onions/potatoes

So what are the tradeoffs and issues at stake?

(i) off-gassing that affects onions >(ii) light degrades, what ... maybe encourages off-gassing?

(iii) shedding onions make an unsightly mess

(iv) rotting veggies make a wet mess; wicker hard to clean

(v) temperature - as low as possible short of freezing

(vi) humidity - high for "thirsty" roots, but perhaps not important for "dry" ones like onions and potatoes?

(vii) air circulation

It seems to me ideal would be a large-grid metal mesh to allow messiness through and not to collect, stashed in the cold dark with aerial separation between onions and potatoes (why???). Maybe a plastic under-tray to catch messiness?

So ... that could almost be something like those metal pullout aftermarket drawers they're selling at B,B,B for undersink cabinets to store cleaning supplies ... that could be rigged with a cleanable collection tray underneath, right? And the pullouts are a large grid, which would permit air flow....

ya think?

Can someone else fill me in on more issues of storage of these veggies and how one could address the problems, even hypothetically?

Is wicker or other such vegetable matter better than metal? I'm thinking the hardness of the metal bruises or perhaps "corrodes" -- is this wrong? what about that plastic-coated metal; would that mitigate this problem? Is it true that a large mesh would be better? i.e., is air circulation the issue, so that more is better?

So what do you do? Would you care to post a photo? Tell us how you address the unsociability of these characters? Where and how do you bed them down?

Long-term answers would be helpful -- that is, e.g., do those wicker baskets pan out in the long run?

Thanks...

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