If you hate food waste, you have probably tried everything that you can think of, from Tupperware to Ziploc bags.
This can lead to food that gets freezer-burned or goes bad anyhow while it is being stored. This is why a vacuum sealer is such a big help when it comes to storing fresh foods like vegetables and fruit.
However, despite how wonderful your vacuum sealer is, you should not use it to seal up green onions. This is because there is a compound in green onions and some other onion types that can grow bacteria that cause botulism.
This is deadly, and you do not want to take the risk that you will grow botulism in your stored onions that are in the freezer or the fridge. There are some fresh foods that just cannot be stored using this method, and you need to be sure that you don’t ever seal any onions with your vacuum sealer.
If you want to learn more about why you cannot seal green onions with your vacuum sealer, you need to keep reading.
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Which Kinds of Foods Cannot be Stored Due to the Risk of Botulism?
Basically, any onion product cannot be stored in a vacuum sealed bag due to the risk of botulism. Garlic also falls into this category.
You will be safer to just use up your fresh garlic and green onion before it goes bad or throw out the food that has gone bad and get new, fresh products for your next meal.
While you might be lucky and your stored onion will not grow botulism, this is a very common problem, and botulism is very deadly. It is just not worth the risk to try and store green onions, regular onions, shallots, or garlic using this method.
You will also find that mushrooms can cause this kind of bacterial growth as well. Cruciferous vegetables can be blanched before they are vacuum sealed to avoid this issue, but the process of blanching does not work for onions and garlic.
There are various dried onion and garlic products that you can use instead. However, if you are worried about your fresh vegetables and ingredients going bad before you can get to them.
Even if you place your vacuum sealed green onions in the freezer, they can still grow botulism. This is a lot like what can happen if you seal up items with your vacuum sealer without washing your hands.
The bacteria on your hands can be carried into the bags with the foods that you touch. This can lead to foods that are vacuum sealed spoiling even in the freezer.
Is There Another Way to Store Green Onions Long-Term?
While you can elect to wash, chop and then place your green onions into a Tupperware-type container in the freezer, this will only give you about a month of storage time, and they are very likely to get freezer burned as well.
This is just not one of the vegetables that store well over the long term, and you need to be sure that you are being careful about how you use this item in your cooking and food storage processes.
Green onions are tough to store long-term since they are not like regular onions, which have a peel that protects them. You can store regular onions for a long time in a cool, dark, dry place without issue, so long as they have not been cut up into pieces.
You cannot say the same thing about green onions, which are not blessed with this outer rind that keeps them from going bad while they are in the cupboard. This is just one of those vegetables that you will need to use right away after you buy it.
Some people flash-freeze their green onions so that they can get a couple of weeks of storage time out of them. This can work for you if you want to try it, but it will often lead to green onions with less flavor and an odd texture.
Green onion tends to get really wilty and slimy when it has not been stored right, and it can become totally inedible quickly if not used within about a week of purchase.
Green onion lasts for about two weeks in the fridge at most, and you should expect that this is the normal timeframe that you can store green onions. Being unable to vacuum seal these little onions can make them frustrating to store and can make them hard to have on hand at all times.
You might just need to adjust your cooking regimen to be sure that you can pick up fresh green onion each time you want to add it to a dish that you are making.
Green Onion is Not Safe to Store With a Vacuum Sealer
There are many, many foods and vegetables, and fruits that can be stored safely with a vacuum sealer. If you own this handy device, you probably use it to store almost everything in your home.
This can be an ideal way to get foods into the freezer, where they will keep for months or even years. However, green onion is just not a vegetable that can be stored long-term using this method of storage.
Green onions are prone to growing botulism, which is deadly. There is no acceptable situation where opening you and your family up to this risk makes sense. Make sure that you just plan to get fresh green onion from the store whenever you need to have access to it.
This makes much more sense when it comes to using green onions safely, and you will find that there is no environment where storing green onions long-term makes sense.
You will want to be sure that you always blanch cruciferous vegetables and that you do not store any onions with your vacuum sealer to prevent the growth of bacteria that could be deadly.
I am Brianna, a self-published author with a passion for sharing my knowledge and expertise on various topics with people looking to find the perfect items for their needs. I love ensuring that the right informative content is available to people looking for the right information. I am an avid horseback rider and reader when I am not writing.
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