I am so tired of buying those teeny tiny jars of herbs and spices. Especially when I am growing herbs and vegetables myself now. I am really trying to be mindful about what I spend my money on but also what I am wasting. Having put the hard work into building a veg patch and growing my own food I have a new found appreciation for the hard work, time, and patience it requires. I also don’t need much of an excuse to bust out the dehydrator…!
My onions are pretty much ready to harvest, they are bulbing up nicely, and have loads of beautiful green leaves – well, they did until I butchered them for this post! We have been eating a few of the leaves in salads, sprinkled over pasta dishes etc… and they have been absolutely delicious. I highly recommend skipping the spring onions in the shops and just eating the leaves of your onions if you are growing them. They are much more mellow than the onion bulbs but still really very yummy.
I’ve been considering what to grow in the raised bed once the onions are finished for the year, which also got me thinking about how I could use the whole crop of onions by saving and using those delicious onion leaves too. If I don’t preserve them they would just end up on the compost heap – such a shame. So, I have decided to make onion powder. I’m always buying little jars of the stuff so why not make it myself? It really is easy peasy.
So that I didn’t end up with a huge glut of leaves to preserve I went round my onion patch and removed 2-3 leaves from each plant (so they still have enough leaves to finish their growing process) popped them in a bag and brought them home. I’ll use the rest of the leaves once I have harvested the onions in a few weeks, if they’re not too wilted.
Making the powder
To make the onion powder I first chopped them into bits there’s no need for precision here – they are destined for powder after all. I gave them a good old rinse and then dried as best I could – I found a salad spinner worked a treat for this but blotting on a tea towel would do just as well.
Next up I loaded the chopped onion leaves onto dehydrator trays. The leaves shrink down a lot, and they are quite thin so don’t worry if the pieces are touching. I put them in the dehydrator at 50 degrees C for 6 hours, checking after around 4 hours. Once your onions have dried completely (they should crumble when they are done) you can pop them into a blender or coffee grinder and pulverise them.
I store my green onion powder in a clean jar with a tight fitting lid so it is easy to use. Remember to condition your powder before storing it for the longer term to make sure that any moisture is evenly distributed to prevent clumping or spoiling.
The Results
Don’t be surprised when your dried onions disappear to nothing once blended. As you can see above a pint jar of dried onion ‘bits’ reduces down to about 1/4 pint once whizzed in the blender. The resulting powder is a milder version of the white onion powder you would buy in the shops – I just bung a little bit more into my cooking to make up for this.
All in all, making my own onion powder makes me happy to know what is going onto my plate and the best bit of all? Its using up what would normally be a by-product of growing bulb onions that would normally end up on the compost heap!
Let me know your thoughts below.
10 responses to “Making Onion powder from onion leaves”
Hey there! We truly appreciate these type of blogs and the inspiring content that creators like you share . Your personal perspective enriches the engaging online community that we all cherish . Keep sharing and empowering your audience, because your ideas can make a positive impact on the world. We can’t wait to discover what you’ll create next!
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KetoQueen
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Thank you. I’m so pleased you enjoyed the post. I love reading what other people are up to too as it gives me so many great ideas about what to try next!
Great post! I love the idea of making my own onion powder instead of always buying it at the store. Have you tried using any other types of herbs or vegetables to make your own powders? It seems like a great way to reduce waste and be more mindful about spending.
Primary T.
https://blog.primarytinting.net
Thank you for leaving a comment, I’m glad you enjoyed the post. I have been dehydrating everything I can. It stops the fresh stuff going off in the fridge.
As for powders, my next plan is to powder tomato skins to make tomato paste – another by-product of making tomato sauces. I’ll definitely post about that when canning season is upon us!
Loved this post – –
Stay Blessed – Mel
ps If i May Add , My New Delicious Keto Recipes Blog Is NOW LIVE – http://www.ketodietrecipes.co.uk Please Follow & Leave A Like
Thank you. Thanks for reading!
[…] to waste any! So in the spirit of reducing waste, I am going to turn my beautiful onion leaves into onion powder that was grown, harvested, and preserved by little old me, rather than chucking them all on the […]
Love this! Truly inspires me to be more self sufficient and less reliant on store bought products.
Thank you, Chris! I’m glad you enjoyed the post.
[…] the same. Then I had the bright idea to use the leaves to dehydrate and save as onion leaf powder (Making Onion powder from onion leaves). I am trying to be more mindful about what I waste and I am also reluctant to throw away good and […]