Tip: Don’t Store Onions and Potatoes Together

Potatoes and onions are great companions in potato salad and frittata, but potatoes and onions should be stored separately.

That’s the advice reader RB shared on the Open Thread over the weekend.

An eHow expert agrees: “Avoid storing potatoes with onions because, when close together, they produce gases that spoil both. ” Bigspud.com says, “First and most important, don’t put [potatoes] anywhere near onions. Onions will make potatoes deteriorate in a hurry.” But just how close is too close?

We wanted to start a new post about this here to make sure everyone saw this storage tip. Is there a food scientist in the house? It would be great to know more details on the science that drives this.

Strangely, this topic reminds of us of the slightly sad Frost poem Good Fences Makes Good Neighbors.