When you bring your Gills Onions home or have them delivered to your restaurant, they will be packaged beautifully, stored at a controlled temperature to keep them fresh, safe, and ready for use. But once they’re in your hands, what next? How do you keep your onions fresh and avoid “going bad?”
We’ve pulled together some of our hot tips (actually, they’re more cool takes) that you can use to keep your Gills Onions fresher for longer. Arturo Canales, our Food Safety and QA Manager, sat down with us to share his tips and tricks, too. We’ll cover food safety and why temperatures are important, overall quality and shelf life, and steps you can take to ensure the proper temperature of the onions in your care.
Why Does Temperature Matter So Much?
The most important indicator of food safety is temperature. If you let your onions get too warm or keep them in the freezer for an extensive period of time, or perhaps you move them in and out – we’re here to help you avoid abusing your onions.
Keeping a consistent temperature will help mitigate the negative reasons that make your onions go bad quickly. The natural breakdown of onions produces a foul-smelling onion juice that accelerates the process, ruining them for your kitchen.
Arturo, our Food Safety and QA Director, says: “The ideal way to store Gills Onions is in a refrigerator capable of maintaining a temperature of 34 to 38 degrees Fahrenheit.” There are your magic numbers: 34 to 38 degrees.
Keeping Track of Shelf Life
We all want to know how long food will last once we’ve purchased it. That timeline is directly connected with how we store and treat the food. If you want your Gills Onions to get their maximum shelf life, Arturo explains that if they are properly refrigerated, they’ll last a good 18 days. If you’re not sure you’re going to use them that quickly, then he says popping them in the freezer will keep them good for up to six months.
But Arturo, how do you know when your onions go bad? “There are several ways to tell,” he said. “You’ll know based on the color, texture, and odor. If onions begin to show dark spots or molds, they should not be eaten. If they smell rotten or exhibit an off odor, then they’re probably not good anymore. And always avoid squishy or slimy onions.”
In other words: make sure they look good, smell good, and feel good.
Tips for Keeping Your Onions at the Right Temperature
We’ve pulled together a list of ways you can keep your onions at the right temperature, which is great not just for your onions, but for any produce you have on hand. Here’s what we suggest:
- Keep your onions at a consistent temperature. Do your best not to move them from cool to warm and back again. Keep them in the fridge right up until you’re ready for them.
- Put them in the right place in the cooler/fridge. If you have your onions right next to the blower, they might freeze. If they’re right by the door—they might experience warmer temperatures.
- Reseal your package immediately. Our onions are packaged in breathable, soft-pack bags. This helps prevent bacteria growth. But Arturo reminds us that keeping them sealed as much as possible helps to prevent bacteria from growing on your onions.
- Source onions from a producer you know is watchful of temperatures. Fresh produce spends a good part of its life in transit. You want to be sure you’re sourcing food from growers and sellers who care about food safety and temperature.
- Check your cooler temperatures often. Whether it’s a home refrigerator or a restaurant cooler, as a chef you want to ensure you’re cooling at the right temperature. Check your appliances often with a second thermometer—don’t just take the word of the appliance.
When you choose Gills Onions, you can have the confidence that from the moment they were planted, these onions have been well cared for. We ensure our onions are stored at a safe temperature (34 to 38 degrees Fahrenheit) every minute until they are dropped off at your facility. We’re conscious of storage solutions (breathable soft-pack bags), and consistency is our motto. What can we say—we follow our own advice to keep our onions fresh and beautiful.
Ready to try onions grown and stored “The Gill Way”? Contact our sales department to learn more!