Why should we not store onions and potatoes together?
I have heard that onions and potatoes shouldn't be stored together. Why will this make the potatoes spoil faster?
Best Answer
As you can see at the Chapter 7: Storage of horticultural crops of the book PDF: Small-Scale Postharvest Handling Practices: A Manual for Horticultural Crops (4th Edition):
- If you look p.166 (p.173 on the PDF), you can see that the onions need to be stored in this conditions:
- between 0-5°C with a relative humidity (R.H.) of 65-70%
- If you look p.168 (p.175 on the PDF), you can see that the potatoes have different needs:
- Fresh market: between 4-7°C
- Processing: between 8-12°C
- seed potatoes: between 0-2°C
- But must of all, potatoes need very highest relative humidity (R.H.): 95-98% versus 65-70% for onions
So, if you store them together, either one or the other will be in bad storage conditions.
Further, as you can see at Section 7: Storage of horticultural crops of Small-scale postharvest handling practices - A manual for horticultural crops - 3rd edition:
- Dry onions (Group 3) are very sensitive to moisture, which makes their storage incompatible with the high R.H. needed for potatoes.
- New potatoes (Group 6) may also produce ethylene, which will badly damage green onions (Group 2) if stored together.
Anyway, storage of horticultural crops cannot just be resumed by "don't put this or that together", as you may have seen:
it is important to consider R.H., temperature, and many other factors.
If the subject interests you, all this (and many other things) is pretty well explained in the following references:
- PDF: Small-Scale Postharvest Handling Practices: A Manual for Horticultural Crops (4th Edition)
- Web: Small-Scale Postharvest Handling Practices: A Manual for Horticultural Crops (4th Edition)
- WEB: Small-scale postharvest handling practices - A manual for horticultural crops - 3rd edition
Ethylene is also a "critical factor", and this topic is more developped in the following resources:
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Quick Answer about "Why should we not store onions and potatoes together?"
Sure, spuds and bulbs are tasty when combined together in meals. But they should actually be stored far away from one another. Why? Your onions produce and emit ethylene gas, which speeds up the ripening process and can cause nearby potatoes to rot and spoil more quickly.Why cant you store potatoes and onions together?
What you don't want is to have your potatoes and onions in close proximity, as gases from the onions can hasten sprouting in potatoes. Kept in the dark: Davison says your potatoes should be stored inside a paper bag in a cool, dark, dry place.Can you keep potatoes and onions together?
Storing potatoes and onions together isn't the best idea. Onions produce a high level of ethylene gas, which will cause potatoes to ripen \u2014 and go bad \u2014 before you're ready to use them. However, those spuds aren't completely innocent, either; potatoes' high moisture content can cause onions to liquefy and leak.Can you store onions and potatoes in the same container?
It's also important not to store potatoes and onions together. Though they seem like two peas in a pod as they're often both called for in the exact same recipes. However, storing them both together actually does more harm than good.You've Been Storing Onions Wrong Your Entire Life
More answers regarding why should we not store onions and potatoes together?
Answer 2
When stored together, onions release gases that will cause the potatoes to spoil faster and become mushy, if you will.
Answer 3
If you store your potatoes with your onions, your potatoes will begin to grow eyes (stems). I like to put these two together only to start my potatoes off before I plant them. It is a much faster process, instead of starting from seeds. Hope this helps!
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