Technologies and methods for storing onions in a vegetable store

Do you want to preserve the quality and freshness of the onion crop so that your product stands out on the shelves of stores or food markets and is attractive to the consumer?

Then it is undoubtedly worth considering proper storage. Indeed, the maximum safety of the harvest volume, freshness, taste and presentation depends on how accurately you follow the recommendations of the technology for long-term storage of onions in a vegetable store. But it should be borne in mind that the nuances of the storage process lie not only in the installation of microclimatic equipment, but in the correct preparation of vegetables for this process.

How to properly prepare onions for laying in a vegetable store?

The first stage is processing the onions after harvesting. Onions must be cleaned of soil residues and weeds. This is necessary in order to avoid the risk of fungus and microorganisms that cause diseases of the vegetable. If partially diseased fruits come across, they can be healed by removing a layer of scales. The second stage is drying. The onions that you want to place in the vegetable store must be ripe and well dried. This will help prevent mold or rot. At the drying stage, an active air ventilation system is used. The choice of temperature modes and air ventilation systems depend on the characteristics of the onion varieties.

Drying of the onion is carried out by ventilating the mound of the product with masses of outside air, while the temperature of the onion rises to +20 degrees. The increase in temperature occurs due to the entry of external air flows into the vegetable storehouse, the temperature is higher by a daddy degrees than the temperature level of the product.

When laying for storage, unripe, green onions can get into the vegetable store, which cannot be stored under normal temperature conditions. In this case, the drying temperature should be increased to +30 degrees in order to prevent the occurrence of rot in the neck of the onion, which can occur at an air temperature of +22 to +25 degrees.

On average, the onion drying stage requires regular ventilation for 8-9 hours a day, for 6 weeks. The air exchange capacity should be in the range from 200 to 250 m3 / t per hour. In the future, to ensure proper storage conditions, it will be enough to carry out ventilation for 4 hours a day.

The third stage is to lower the temperature level in the product storage chamber. After the drying stage is completed, it is necessary to begin to gradually reduce the air temperature by 0.5 degrees per day until the temperature reaches 20 degrees. To prevent condensation from forming in the vegetable store at this stage, periodically ventilate the store with outside air for 10-15 minutes, every 3 hours.

Storage options for onions

After thorough processing and drying of the onion, it can be stored.

When choosing a storage technology for onions, it is necessary to take into account that the microclimate system must maintain optimal humidity in the storage chamber, since onions are poorly stored in conditions of high humidity and temperature changes. When stored in high humidity conditions, onions can develop mold and rot, spreading quickly from infected vegetables to healthy ones. To avoid this, set the operating modes of the ventilation system to work for 15 minutes every two hours.

Mainly in our projects to create a microclimate for vegetable storage of onions, we use the following technologies:

1. Combined system
2. Aspiration wall
3. Dragon-M

Of course, the conditions and storage system of onions are selected individually for each project, depending on the harvest volume, variety, product, the geographical location of the vegetable store and a host of other nuances, which we clarify with the customer at the stage of developing a technological solution.

But there are nuances that you should stick to by default:

• The temperature difference in the product fill (pile) is unacceptable.
• Do not use the cooling system until after the onion drying process.
• Air humidity - 75%
• Storage temperature - from 0 to 1.5 degrees.