In-grown onion skin

[Anna N]

Fairly frequently I come across an ordinary cooking onion in which the skin has grown into the heart of the onion. Some are trashed immediately but some I will try to rescue by trimming out the offending skin. However, I always question the quality of such onions. They seem softer and not as pungent. Love to hear other views on this.

[Darienne]

Ha! I do what you do, but never gave it any thought before.

[Kerry Beal]

Definitely softer around the inside skin - I use them if they aren't too far gone or if I'm desperate (only onions left in the house). I peel back until they are all firm.

Never noticed whether they differ in pungency - will have to observe.

[weinoo]

Most likely an onion past its peak holding time. I do as you do - trim out the inner skin and use it in soups or wherever it might be cooked. For raw onion usage, I look for fresher onions in my drawer, or head back out to the store.

The same issue comes up with garlic and trimming the green piece out of the center.

[Kim Shook]

Hee! I love the name 'in-grown onion skin'. It describes it perfectly. I've noticed, too, that these onions seem a little softer. I do what you do.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Into the stock bag in the freezer with the other vegetable scraps. I usually put onion skins in there generally, except for the outermost layer, which can be dirty. They have a good oniony flavor and add a nice color to stock, unless it's to be a white stock of course. Those decorative Ukrainian Easter eggs are made by boiling the eggs in water steeped with onion skins, and then patterns are etched into the shell with a needle.

[heidih]

I am confused. Is the onion skin coming from the outside somehow into the flesh or are you talking about the situation where it looked like onion skin in the core? As if there is a mini onion w/ skin in the center? If the latter, I just had a few of them. They were 6 for a dollar and I could tell they were a little soft so I used them right away. They seem like fresh onions that have not been aged properly. My eyes were watering so they were pungent in that regard. I did discard two layers on the outside that seemed too soft and then popped the mini onion out of the middle as I was cutting. I roasted most of them with garlic and olive oil right away to use in various preps, and put one in rings into a quick pickle. I would have to taste them before using completely raw in a salad.