Onion

One of the more common members of the lily family, the onion has likely been used as a food source since 5000 BC. They are now widely in used in all types of cooking and are available in all forms - canned, pickled, frozen, dehydrated and, of course, raw.

Varieties

Onions come in two main varieties - short/spring and storage. The short or spring varieties are planted in the fall and harvested in the spring before mature. Meanwhile, the storage onions are planted in the summer, harvested in the fall when mature. The storage variety is richer in sulfur than the short or spring variety thus the short/spring variety has a milder taste.

Tears of Sulfur

The crying comes from the high amount of sulfides in the raw onion. The sulfides are a defensive mechanism used by the onion to keep predators away. Cutting into the onion (or biting into it) breaks the skin (attacking the onion) and triggers the onion releasing the defensive mechanism (releasing sulfides into the air as a gas) and can make people cry as a reaction to it. The sulfur is also what gives the onion its flavor.

More Information

• Hormel Foods
• Nutrition Data

Recipes with Onion

• Bison soup
• Roast leftovers
• Basic roast
• Breakfast hash-browns
• Veggie rice pasta
• Non-tomato pasta sauce
• Sweet beef
• Slow cooked chicken
• Beef and pasta soup
• Healthy (Veggie and Pork) Meatballs
• Sweet potato stir fry
• Quinoa salad
• Baked quinoa stir fry
• Potato orange beef soup
• Quinoa onion rings
• Beefy rice
• Bison meat balls