Onion is a vegetable that brings out the emotional side in all of us. It is very difficult to stop ourselves from crying when cutting an onion. Because of this, in ancient Egypt, cutting onion was forbidden during special celebrations. Onion has been used for over 4000 years and is usually used to add flavour to other dishes. However there are times when it has centre stage, specially in dishes like onion soup or onion tart.
It is hard to imagine most dishes without onion. It’s characteristic aroma is due to the sulfur-rich volatile oil inside the onion. It not only makes you cry, but is apparently also used for medicinal purposes and to fight off infections. In Poland it has been used for generations to help with the common cold. Sliced onion is generously sprinkled with sugar and left in a jar to release its juices. The extracted syrup is then drunk, like cough syrup.
There are many varieties of onions. It can be oval, round, flattened, the size of a nut or orange. The most popular has light brown skin, but other colours are widely available, like white red or purple.
Brown onion is the most popular and has the strongest flavour, for that reason it is only used for cooking. Red onion is ideal in salads. It has a delicate, slightly sweet flavour and makes a striking contrast mixed with other colours in the salad. The white onion is surprisingly sweet, it is best suited for stuffing as it has a mellow taste. The little shallot enhances the flavour of red meat when cooked into a sauce with red wine. The baby onion or pearl, is the size of a grape and is great for pickling.
When buying onion, look for even skin colour and make sure that it is firm when touched. There should be no sprouting at the tip either. Onion can be kept for a long time, in a dry, well ventilated spot, however peeled and cut up onion, must be used immediately as it releases its vapours and looses its flavour very quickly.
There are many different ways of cutting up onion so that the flood of tears doeas not come. If you haven’t tried these before then they might help. Make sure that you use a very sharp knife. Cutting the onion quickly, reduces the amount of juices that are released. Try putting the onion in the freezer for 10 minutes or the fridge for 1 hour. You can also try cutting it under a stream of running water. I persoanlly use a combination of things. First make sure you have a very sharp knife, secondly after peeling the onion, I submerge it in cold water in a bowl. Keeping the onion in the water, reduces the exposure to the aroma expelled by it. Cut the onion in half. Only take out each half and cut very quickly. Once chopped or sliced, start cooking or using right away or cover with plastic wrap if not used immediately. We all have our tried and tested methods in order to reduce the tears but, no matter which method you use one thing is for sure, we all dread cutting up onions.
