ONION

Vitals

• Allium cepa , belonging to the onion family, Alliaceae.

• Origin: Possibly Persia or the area from Palestine to India. There are no known equivalents in the wild.

• Earliest cultivation: Egypt, 2900 BC.

• Early archeological evidence: Carvings of onions appear on Egyptian tombs, and onions have been found buried with mummified remains.

• Other areas with early cultivation: Greece, Iraq.

• Climate: Well adapted to grow in a variety of climates.

• Major producing countries: Dry onions—China, India, United States; Green onions and shallots—Mexico, Korea, Japan.

Few vegetables are as loved and loathed as the pungent onion. In ancient Egypt, onions were worshipped, and their concentric circles were seen as symbols of eternal life. They were a staple food and were savored raw. In modern times, uncooked onions send people reaching for breath mints. Onion cultivation spread across Europe by the Middle Ages, and then expanded westward with Christopher Columbus in the late 1400s. Today, onions are grown virtually everywhere in the world. 

Egyptians used onions in religious rituals and in preparing the remains of the dead. Mummies have been found with small onions placed in their eyes, ears, and next to their bodies.

Alexander the Great believed that onions increased strength and courage, and so he fed them to his armies.

The bulb of an onion is created from the thickened bases of the previous year’s leaves.

If cutting onions makes you weep you can blame sulfuric acid. When onions are cut, they release a sulfur-containing gas that reacts with water in your eyes to produce sulfuric acid. The sulfur in onions can help clean the digestive tract, and kill bacteria in your mouth.

Onions flower every two years, so you will have to winter your first year’s crop and replant them the following season. Plant only one variety of onion to prevent cross-pollination with other varieties.

• Dig up your best onions during the fall of their first year. If you live in a warm climate, onions can be kept in the ground all winter.

• Select a few with the largest bulbs (these will produce more seed). Clip the tops to six inches, and store them in a cool, dry place until spring.

• Replant in early spring; onions require a long growing season. A small cut in the top of the onion before planting may encourage the seed stalk to come up more quickly.

• Harvest the round clusters, called umbels , from the top of the stalk when most of the flowers have dried. Some seed might already be falling from the umbels, so handle them carefully.

• Let the umbels dry for two to three weeks, and then rub them between your hands into a small dish to break out the seeds. Winnow (sift from one container to another outside in the wind) to get rid of chaff if necessary.

• Store them in a cool, dry place away from light until you are ready to plant them. It is preferable to plant them the following season, as onion seeds are viable for only one to two years.

Saving and planting seeds is easy. Make sure that the plants you are saving seed from are what’s called an “open pollinating” rather than a hybrid variety. For a list of companies that sell seeds for open-pollinating plants, see our article Why Save Seeds?

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