You're supposed to pull them after a day or so of dry weather, which is all the time, lately, except it's been so hot that I have to water every day so the garden reality is that I pulled them after a wet day.
They don't dry as well that way, and with the humidity, it's been interesting getting them to cure.
The theory is that you do it this way:
1. Wait until the tops fall over and then let them cure in the ground for 10 days or so.
2. Pull them up after a couple of days of dry weather
3. Brush them off and lay them out to cure in a well ventilated and very dry place - like Utah.
4. Let them cure for a week or so and then put them in long term storage.
The reality is that I pulled them up damp and cut the rest of the tops off. I put them on a holey table. tops down so they'd drain faster. Some of them were so wet they got rust marks on them from reacting with the table. It is hot and humid and we're constantly under threat of pop up storms, so I've been pulling them in whenever rain threatens. Then I have to remember to take them back out and let them dry some more.
Long term storage will be almost impossible here because of all the native molds. I think we're going to cut them up and dehydrate a bunch. They'll keep better that way than fresh.
UPDATE: I found a bunch of old onion bags and I've got the first already-cured batches in bags hanging in our back room. That might be enough for us to keep them for a while without them getting yucky.
P.S. A room full of drying onions smells good.
P.P.S. I've got a recipe for onion-garlic jam coming in the next week or so that is To. Die. For.
