The Mighty Onion
The Mighty Onion
It is Summer! Gardens and Farmers Markets around the world boast a great variety of the onion. If you are not familiar with the various selections, you may appreciate this brief introduction.
Hopefully you will feel more confident in expanding your onion usage.
• Yellow Onion: A staple in most pantries and suitable for most culinary purposes.
• White Onion: Their milder-sweeter flavor (than the yellow onion) makes them a favorite for eating raw or in homemade salsa or guacamole.
• Sweet Onion: These have a higher sugar content than yellow onions and are the choice for caramelizing and onion rings. Popular varieties include Walla Walla, Maui, Vidalia and others.
• Red Onion: Their milder-sweet flavor makes them a popular choice to eat raw on burgers & sandwiches and in salads. They add color to the finished dish.
• Green Onion: Immature onions that have not fully formed a bulb; the entire plant may be used (long green stems chopped in soups, omelets, tacos, etc.); you may know them by other names, scallions, spring onions or salad onions.
• Shallots: Small, brown-skinned onions with purplish flesh with multi-lobed bulbs (similar to garlic); Not widely used in the U.S. perhaps because of their pungent, garlicky flavor.
• Leeks: Native to eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, leeks resemble green onions, but are larger; mild in flavor, they are a favorite addition to soups, casseroles & white-meat entrees; best from Autumn to Spring.
• Pearl Onion: Small, marble-sized onions used for pickling; May also be known as button or baby onion.
Life is like an onion. You peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.
~Carl Sandburg
These onion varieties also boast flavors of sweet, savory, pungent, aromatic. They are quite versatile and enhance any recipe you add them to. Onions may be eaten raw, roasted, sautéed, grilled, pickled, caramelized, or baked.
Besides improving food’s flavor, the heroic onion provides a number of health benefits:
• Member of Allium genus which include garlic, chives, leeks and shallots.
• Used medicinally since ancient times for headaches, heart conditions, mouth sores.
• Low in calories and high in vitamins, minerals and fiber.
High in Vitamin C - antioxidant that protects cells from free radical damage
High in Vitamin B - (B6 & B9) which support metabolism, nerve function and red blood cell production
Good source of potassium
High in antioxidants and antibacterial properties
• Improves bone mineral density
• Helps balance blood sugar (the sulfur and quercetin compounds possess anti-diabetic effects).
• Equal measures of onion juice and honey soothe sore throats and relieve coughing.
• Onion juice applied to a honeybee sting reduces the pain
**A cautionary side note: Onions are harmful to pets! The unpleasant side-effects (for humans) of onion include breath odor, possible digestive distress (bloating, gas) or heartburn.
Whether buying from your local grocer or Farmers Market, choose firm, blemish-free onions. They should not have a scent. The National Onion Association suggests storing onions in a cool, dark, dry space with plenty of ventilation. It is not recommended storing whole unpeeled onions in the refrigerator.
If you want to minimize the tears when cutting an onion, try cutting it under cool running water. The beneficial sulfur content causes the tears––it’s part of the process of cooking with onions.
Perhaps the onion is not just another humble garden gift. Some may consider it a culinary luxury. Others believe it to be a superfood. Whatever your conclusion after trying these “anything-but- ordinary” orbs, I’m certain you’ll agree there is no culinary downside to including onions in your next dish.
An onion can make people cry but there's never been a vegetable that can make people laugh.
~Will Rogers