Make Onions Even Healthier with This Storage Trick

Onions are fairly bursting with antioxidants and other nutritious goodies. But you can get even more out of them if you tuck them away for a spell.

Storing red onions for several months may boost their levels of cancer-fighting, heart-disease-diminishing quercetin by up to 30 percent, according to a new study.

Know Your Onions
Thick-skinned storage onions are the perfect pantry addition. Not only do they make a great addition to savory soups, spinach salads, and crusty-bread sandwiches, but they store well, too. So snap up whatever you can find this summer, and keep the extras until fall. Choose a cool, dry, dark location, and store them in a mesh bag, a nylon stocking, or a container that allows the onions to breathe. (Try these other nutrition-boosting tips for fruits and veggies.)

Layers of Nutrition
Onions are one of the very best sources of quercetin. And red varieties tend to beat out the yellow ones when it comes to nutrition levels. Add more layers to your onion knowledge with these tips:

• Watch this video for tips on how to chop onions without getting tears in your eyes.
• Get the inside scoop on creating onion relish with this recipe: Red and White Onion Relish.
• Find out how you can use your nose to choose the onion with the most antioxidant power.

RealAge Benefit

Getting the right amount of antioxidants through diet or supplements can make your RealAge 6 years younger. Take the RealAge Test!

References

Actively patrolling your health can make your RealAge as much as 12 years younger. Take the RealAge Test  Copyright 2010 RealAge