Something Smells, Part II

Ok, with the dehydrator fixed, I tried the onions again. They did work the first time, but not being able to document it, I decided to wait on this post. But here it is!

I will admit that these are store-bought onions, not homegrown. I can never seem to get my act together enough to grow onions, or garlic for that matter. Having said that, let’s move on.

Dehydrating onions is a great idea. I got a bag of onions, for a buck or two, and was able to make onion flakes, and onion powder- which, for both would probably cost $5 or more to buy in the store…and it couldn’t be easier to do.

Cut your onions, fill your trays, and set the dehydrator outside- DO NOT miss this step. Serious as a heart attack- onions in the dehydrator smell like really bad B.O. and you don’t want that in your house- or anywhere near it. I had mine in the garage (unconnected to the house).

I fill my trays as full as I can get them- as you can see, and it was hot and muggy outside, so adjust your timing to your own climate. It took over 24 hours to completely dry them, and I did bring them in for the last few hours, which, by this time the onions smell incredible, so I was safe. Well, safe enough to bring them inside, not safe enough for my mind to go from onion rolls to a greasy cheeseburger!

Once they are completely dry, you can either seal them in a jar, as I did with the first batch, or take them to the blender to powder, as I did with my second batch. One word of warning when making onion powder: the powder process makes a lot of dust, so when you open the lid, keep your face away until the dust settles (just a minute or so)- it will affect your sinuses for hours if that dust get up in there. (yes, personal experience).



Now, you can even go a step further, and make onion salt. To do that, you would just mix three parts salt to one part onion powder. I don’t do this, as I watch my salt intake very closely. My parents both have/had heart disease, so salt intake is very much controlled in this house. I do use salt, but I like to go solo on it, and not have to worry about it being mixed into everything.

And that’s all there is to it! Once you realize just how easy it is, and how you can control what goes into what you put in your family’s mouth, store bought just doesn’t seem to make as much sense.