Is this onion safe to eat? Mould on skin see pic

[muchstermonch]

Hello! I have an onion that has some black mould on the skin. See pic. It's only on one side (rest of skin is perfectly fine)! Would you peel it and use it?
Not sure if safe or not.

You won't know until you peel it

Onion skins are really protective, just take it off and any soft bits. If it's fine inside it's fine to eat, no point wasting food!

We need a pic of it unpeeled.

thanks all! I will definitely use it, checking the inside and so on.

was just worried that it was black mould and could have penetrated invisibly somehow and had a bad health effect. But it seems perfectly hard and not squishy or rotten, so will hopefully be ok.

will be using it tomorrow so will post a pic if I remember!

Take that mouldy layer of skin off now though and throw it away.

I bet there's a glossy copper layer underneath

I don't think you should eat it. I don't eat onions but if I saw that any kind of food was mouldy, I wouldn't eat it. I would chuck it out right away.

That colour mould would give me pause. I don’t think I’ve ever seen black like that on an onion. If it’s only on the very outside it’s probably fine but if I had another I would probably dump that one, being honest.

What’s the whitish bit on the end? Is that also mould?

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There is absolutely nothing wrong with that onion, and I often use ones that look far worse than that on the outside.

Just peel all the brown skins off as normal. It will be fine underneath.

You don’t eat onions, so why comment about something you know nothing about? Or better still get educated on food safety.
you sound like a “germ free adolescent”

Did you keep it in your fridge? This is likely why the outside has picked up a bit of mould but take that layer off and chances are there is a second outer layer underneath that's fine, nd the onion will be good under that as it's still nicely firm.

Onions are best stored in a cool dry room - we grow lots and store them in wooden potato boxes stacked in our shed.

I do batch make chutney, and also make soup mix - so all the dry ingredients chopped and frozen in bags (food processor is the way to go), I lay the bags flat to freeze and then break the contents of the bags up as they freeze, so I can take 2 scoops veg per portion, add water/stock/wine = easy soup.
Our onions last all winter, then once it get warmer I peel chop and freeze what's left.
Did you know if you freeze onions in slices, you can 'chop' them by breaking the frozen rings - they just snap into small pieces.

Onions do get that on the skins. Peel all the papery stuff off, check the onion underneath. You could peel the first layer of actual onion as well if you're worried.

My first Saturday job was doing this.

Then the pretty looking onions were sold at higher price. 😁

" but if I saw that any kind of food was mouldy, I wouldn't eat it. I would chuck it out right away."

Not a Stilton fan then.

Onions often look like that. Not sure that's it's even mould is it? Mould usually scrapes off at least partly, whereas this is discolouration, if it's the same as I've commonly seen on onions. It's usually just on the top papery layer. Either way the onion is fine if it's fine under the papery layers. I can't believe people saying they'd throw it away!

This thread is insane. What has happened for this to even be a question?

I'm staggered that people think that a visible imperfection on onion peel could make the entire vegetable unsafe or otherwise 'compromised' and that they'd throw away perfectly edible food.

My onion has some onion skin on it, is it safe?

This is how I do it

My man has a spot.

It's an man. Just throw it away and use another.

Onions have layers!

Sorry, much used movie quote 😬

@muchstermonch just peel away the offending layer, it should be OK.
Bad onions are soft and they smell something awful - trust me, you'd know about it!
(Spent my youth working in kitchens)

Are you comparing men to onions?

yes fine if the mould is on a papery layer and not mushy.

I would wash it after peeling as well.

I feel ljke some people on this thread have no idea how onion grows.
In a ground (and bit above). It has number of proyective layers exactly because it's bit harsh risky environment with bugs, mould etc.

We used to nab some of our local field and guess how harsh winter will be based on thickness of their skins😁

Good on OP taking it on board!
Some posters on these threads always make me think people think these things are grown in sterile environments and panic unsure people.

You should see some of the veg I use OP, if in doubt it gets peeled and thrown into a large batch of curry or tomato sauce. Plenty of flaccid carrots, sprouting spuds and mushy tomatoes have I consumed with no ill effects.