Bulb and stem vegetables

Onions

Historical uses

It is thought that bulbs from the onion family have been used as a food source for millennia. In Bronze Age settlements, traces of onion remains were found alongside fig and date stones dating back to 5000 BC.⁵

However, it is not clear if these were cultivated onions. Archaeological and literary evidence such as the Book of Numbers 11:5 suggests cultivation probably took place around two thousand years later in ancient Egypt, at the same time that leeks and garlic were cultivated. Workers who built the Egyptian pyramids may have been fed radishes and onions.⁵

The onion is easily propagated, transported and stored. The Ancient Egyptians worshipped it,⁶ believing that its spherical shape and concentric rings symbolized eternal life. Onions were even used in Egyptian burials as evidenced by onion traces being found in the eye sockets of Ramesses IV. They believed[citation needed] that, if buried with the dead, the strong scent of onions would bring breath back to the dead.

In ancient Greece, athletes ate large quantities of onion because it was believed that it would lighten the balance of blood. Roman gladiators were rubbed down with onion to firm up their muscles. In the Middle Ages onions were such an important food that people would pay their rent with onions and even give them as gifts.⁶ Doctors were known to prescribe onions to facilitate bowel movements and erection, and also to relieve headaches, coughs, snakebite and hair loss. The onion was introduced to North America by Christopher Columbus on his 1492 expedition to Hispaniola. Onions were also prescribed by doctors in the early 1500s to help with infertility in women, and even dogs and cattle and many other household pets. However, recent evidence has shown that dogs, cats, and other animals should not be given onions in any form, due to toxicity during digestion. ⁷

up

Uses

Onions, one of the oldest vegetables known to humankind, are found in a large number of recipes and preparations spanning almost the totality of the world’s cultures. They are nowadays available in fresh, frozen, canned, pickled, powdered, chopped, and dehydrated forms. Onions can be used, usually chopped or sliced, in almost every type of food including cooked foods and fresh salads and as a spicy garnish. They are rarely eaten on their own but usually act as accompaniment to the main course. Depending on the variety, an onion can be sharp, spicy, tangy and pungent or mild and sweet.

Tissue from onions is frequently used in science education to demonstrate microscope usage, because they have particularly large cells which are readily observed even at low magnifications.⁴

up

up

Varieties

Brown and white onions

Yellow onions

Red onions
p. * Bulb onion – Grown from seed (or onion sets), bulb onions range from the pungent varieties used for dried soups and onion powder to the mild and hearty sweet onions, such as the Vidalia from Georgia or Walla Walla from Washington that can be sliced and eaten on a sandwich instead of meat.

• Multiplier onions – May refer to perennial green onions, or to onions raised from bulbs which produce multiple shoots, each of which forms a bulb. The second type is often referred to as a Potato onion.
• Tree onion or Egyptian onion – Produce bulblets in the flower head; a hybrid of Allium cepas.
• Welsh onion – Sometimes referred to as green onion or spring onion, although these onions may refer to any green onion stalk.

Leek

up