Fun facts about onions

May 28, 2012 | In: Food facts

Let’s put it this way: there isn’t any delicious recipe in the world that doesn’t contain onion; it doesn’t matter what form. In France, for example, there are cake recipes which contain caramelized onions. Yummy, don’t you think?

The history of this vegetable is dated back to 3500 BC and it is said that the population of Asia first introduced it in their diet. Later, wild onions were found growing on every continent.

Over the passing centuries, the onion not only filled people’s stomachs, and even became worshipped in Ancient Egypt, considering that its round shape and concentric rings symbolized God and all eternity.

But the onions also have problems of their own. We all know that it makes us cry and after we eat it raw, it’ll most likely produce a very bad breath. Not to fear, parsley is here. If you eat 3-4 parsley leaves, there you go, the bad breath is gone. And don’t feel bad about crying, because the more you cry, the fresher the onion is and scientists say that onion tears can fight with cancer. But I’ll tell you a little secret: if you chew gum while peeling onions you may not cry. Try it!

Onions once even moved armies. How? Pay a little attention to this: during the American Civil War, General Ulysses S. Grant sent a telegram to the War Department, “I will not move my army without onions.” The next day he got them.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest onion ever grown weighed 10 lbs 14 oz(6 kg) and was grown by V. Throup of Silsden, England.

One last tip for you: If you need only half of an onion, use the top half. The root will stay fresh longer in the refrigerator.