The find was made in the Discovery hut, built by British polar explorer Robert Scott in 1902 on the Hat Point Peninsula in Antarctica.

“One of the studied artifacts at Discovery as part of the seasonal monitoring program was a large bag of red onions. It’s rather unusual to find this amazing item that has been in the corner of the hut for over 100 years since Scott and his team have been here, ”the Antarctic Heritage Trust said in a Facebook post.

Specialists carefully examined the bag and onion and did not find a single trace of mold. It is noted that onions shriveled over time and contracted, but it is easy to identify as red onions.

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Discovery Hut: what's in the bag? One of the artefacts inspected at Discovery Hut as part of this season's monitoring program is a large sack of red onions. Perhaps a surprising item to find, this partially full bag of onions is sitting discreetly in the corner of Discovery Hut some 100 years plus since Scott and his team were there. Nicola, our conservator, carefully checks the bag and the onion for signs of mold. There is none, which is pleasing. The onions are shrivelled and distorted but are clearly identifiable as onions. Their pinkish tinge even makes it easy to see they are red onions! Annual checks of artefacts, including taking photos, helps the AHT conservation team to establish good baseline data of how the hut is responding to initial conservation treatments and helps to identify any potential issues. Our next Antarctic Blog will be about working in Discovery Hut on the maintenance program, look out for it soon on nzaht.org. #conserve #heritage #antarctica #discoveryhut #history #artefact

Posted by Antarctic Heritage (@antarcticheritage) Nov 21, 2019 at 2:07 PST

In 2017, researchers at the Antarctic Heritage Trust discovered a hundred-year-old Huntley & Palmers fruit cake in one of the huts of the Scott expedition on Cape Adare in East Antarctica.

The cake was wrapped in paper and lay in a tin box. The box was in rather poor condition, but the cake itself looked quite edible and had no odors.

Earlier, one of the most famous finds of scientists in Antarctica was the bottle of whiskey of the late XIX century, which belonged to the British expedition Ernest Shackleton. After being discovered in 2010, they were sent to the Scottish distillery Whyte and Mackay to restore the original recipe for the drink that was supplied to the polar explorers.