A weepy, smelly food that is probably the most consumed of any vegetable!
 
The food this week, one I've been eating more than usual, is the ever popular and most consumed vegetable, the onion. Comes in many sizes, shapes and colors along with a second hand odoriferous offensive smell! "It's not good for your friends, but it is good for your health," said the lead researcher, Dr. Rui Hai Liu, a chemist in The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry department of food science.

It's not a good idea to breathe on anyone after eating this food without drinking a glass of strong lemonade or eating a hunk of lemon, which can cleanse the palate fairly well...
 
The bulbous onion and its numerous relatives belong to a flower family namely the Lily family. How can something so smelly come from a flower family? I don't have the answer but that is a good question! Nature is a mystery in a lot of areas and this is one of those!
 
Some of these alliums are distinctly ornamental; a few others, notably garlic, leek, Welsh onion, and chive, are common vegetables. All of the edible forms have related flavors and odors that are due principally to a volatile, irritating substance.
 
The word "onion" comes from the Middle English unyun, from the French oignon, which came in turn from the Latin unio, meaning "onion." Ancient names for this plant in Sanskrit, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin are apparently unrelated, indicating widespread culture of onions from prehistoric times.
 
Onions can be divided into two categories: spring/summer fresh onions and fall/winter storage onions.
 
Spring/summer fresh onions are available in yellow, red and white throughout their season, March through August. Fresh onions can be identified by their thin, light-colored skins. Because they have a higher water content, they are typically sweeter and milder than storage onions. This higher water content also makes them more susceptible to bruising.
 
With their delicate taste, fresh onions are an ideal choice for salads and other fresh and lightly-cooked dishes.
 
Fall/winter storage onions are available August through April. Also available in yellow, red, purple and white, storage onions have multiple layers of thick, dark, papery skins. Storage onions have an intense flavor and a higher percentage of solids.
 
Storage onions are the best choice for savory dishes that require longer cooking times or more flavor.
 
Onions are low in calories yet add abundant flavor to a wide variety of foods. Averaging about 30 calories per serving, onions are sodium, fat, and cholesterol free, and provide dietary fiber, vitamin C, vitamin B6, potassium, and other key nutrients.
 
Mild sweet onions varieties are:
 
Spanish onions: known for their mild and delicately sweet flavor.
Bermuda onions: another category of mild onions that come in red, white, or yellow.
Walla-Walla Sweet onions: originally came from Corsica at the beginning of the 20th century and arrived in Walla-Walla, Washington where they are grown today.
Texas Sweets: available mid spring through early summer.
 
Research shows that onions may help guard against many chronic diseases. That's probably because onions contain generous amounts of a flavonoid called quercetin. Other sources are tea and apples, but research shows that absorption of quercetin from onions is twice that from tea and more than three times that from apples. Studies have shown that quercetin protects against cataracts, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.
 
In addition, onions contain a variety of other naturally occurring chemicals known as organosulfur compounds that have been linked to lowering blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
 
In Chinese medicine, globe onions (allium cepa) are said to calm the liver, moisten the intestines, and benefit the lungs. Raw onions are prescribed for constipation, for lowering high blood pressure, and for healing wounds or ulcers of the skin. Spring onions, or scallions (allium fistulosum), are used to induce sweating. One application for the common cold is to take 20 spring onions and simmer them with rice to make porridge. Add a little vinegar and eat while it is warm. Then wrap yourself up in blankets to induce sweating. Works like a charm, but is it the onion rice soup or the sweating?
 
Some health studies have shown raw onions to be effective in lowering overall cholesterol while raising HDLs, the good cholesterol. Additionally, onions kill infectious bacteria, a help in controlling blood sugar, aid in dissolving blood clots, and help to prevent cancer.
 
Onions were used extensively by the ancient Egyptians, as shown by drawings and inscriptions on their monuments. The Bible states that during the wanderings of the Israelites in the wilderness, they longed for the onions, leeks, and garlic they had had in Egypt.
 
In the first century many varieties of onion were known: long, round, red, yellow, white, strong, and mild kinds. For a time in the Middle Ages it appears that the onion was less popular than leek and garlic, while now the reverse is true.
 
The onion was introduced by the Spanish into the West Indies soon after their discovery. From there it soon spread to all parts of the Americas. Onions were grown by the earliest colonists and soon afterward by the Indians.
 
The Welsh onion - A. fistulosum - never forms a rounded bulb-only one to several long white scallions. This form is most popular in the Orient, but is grown almost everywhere. In Japan it is often incorrectly called "Japanese leek."
 
One form of onion, the so-called Egyptian tree onion, or top onion, produces "sets" - tiny bulbs - at the top of the stalk instead of flowers and seeds.
 
The leek - A. porrum- like the Welsh onion, forms only a cylindrical instead of a rounded bulb. The leaf of the leek, however, is flattened and solid, while the leaf of the onion is cylindrical and hollow.
 
In the first century the Romans considered that the best leeks came from Egypt, where they had been known in earliest Biblical times. The Emperor Nero is reported to have been nicknamed Porrophagus because of his inordinate appetite for leeks. He imagined that frequent eating of leeks improved his voice! He could have right!
 
In the 6th century the Welsh won a victory over the Saxons and attributed their success to the leeks they wore to distinguish themselves in battle. What a smelly fight that must have been!
 
"Know your onions" was a term coined in the 1920s to indicate that the many varieties of onions that were cultivated over the years never acquired standardized names from one locale to another.
 
Leeks have been common all over Europe for as long as we have records of food plants. In America, by 1775, they were cultivated by the Indians as well as the colonists.
 
Chive  - A. schoenoprasum - is an Old World plant now found wild in modern Italy and Greece. It is believed to be native to the eastern Mediterranean. The word "chive" is an Old French form of the French cive, derived from the Latin cepa, meaning "onion." Grown for hundreds of years in European gardens and in the British Isles.
 
The chive has beautiful blue flowers, but they produce no seed. It is propagated by planting the bulbs, which increase in number each year, forming dense clumps.
 
You can see that onions are not common and many types exist for our eating pleasure!
 
Onions add flavor to all types of foods while adding healthy nutrients. Eat and enjoy!
Lena

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 HEALTH TODAY
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