How long do onions last

Keep a dry onion unwashed, in a mesh bag or an open basket, somewhere cool, dark, and dry. FoodKeeper prints the pantry as 1 month. Light and damp grow sprouts and mould. Do not share a bin with potatoes. The fridge is printed as 2 months; it is not a required home for a whole dry onion, and the smell moves into other food. A closed box stops the smell.

The pantry month ends the moment you cut it. Put the cut face in a closed box in the fridge. This page does not write a separate day for a cut onion, because FoodKeeper’s row is the whole dry onion. Green onions are not this row either. No time is invented for them.

Get perishable food into the fridge within 2 hours of cooking it or bringing it home, and within 1 hour if the kitchen is above 32°C (90°F). USDA FSIS and Turkey’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry both publish that cutoff. A closed deep pot stays warm; a shallow box cools.

A chart is a window, not a verdict on the container in your hand. A sour smell, a slimy surface, or mould means it is finished, even on day one. This page is not medical advice.

• Soft, wet, or hollow layers.
• Mould. Peeling the outer skin and carrying on does not help once mould has entered the flesh.
• A sharp rotten smell. The onion’s own smell is not that.
• A sprout. A small sprout is a quality loss; with softness and mould, the onion is finished.

A dry, papery skin is not spoilage. That is the state of this row.

Chop it, press out the air, and freeze it closed. FoodKeeper prints the freezer as 10–12 months. The ministry caps vegetables at 12 months. Those are two writings of the same ceiling; the bold number is ten months. The months are about quality. USDA says food held continuously at −18°C (0°F) stays safe.

Thaw in the fridge. Freezing a whole dry onion in its skin is not what this row recommends. The chopped onion is what gets frozen. Do not refreeze what has thawed.

Thaw in the refrigerator, not on the counter. Do not refreeze a portion that has thawed. The ministry states the same rule: thaw frozen food in the fridge and take out only what you will eat.

• An onion lasts forever in the pantry. FoodKeeper prints the pantry as 1 month.
• Green onions share that month. This row is a whole dry onion. No time is pasted onto green onions.
• The fridge poisons a dry onion. FoodKeeper prints the fridge as 2 months. It is not a required home; the smell is a separate matter.

The windows assume a generally healthy household. Pregnancy, young children, older age, or a weakened immune system are reasons to keep the shorter figure, to skip raw or undercooked food, and to reheat leftovers until the centre is steaming. USDA’s figure for reheating leftovers is 74°C (165°F).

Heating a mouldy onion does not undo mould. In pregnancy, for young children, in older age, or with a weakened immune system, do not sort a mouldy layer by tasting it. An onion is not raw meat. A soft, smelling onion is still not rescued by soup.