Natural Cook Studio of Bend

Did you know onions are native to Asia and the Middle East and have been cultivated for over five thousand year. Onions have been revered throughout time not only for their culinary use, but also for their therapeutic properties. As early as the 6th century, onions were used as a medicine in India. Christopher Columbus brought onions to the West Indies and from there cultivation spread throughout the Western Hemisphere. Today China, India, the United States, Russian, and Spain are among the leading producers. The U.S. is the third largest producer, and our Oregon and Idaho produce 48% of the US onion crops.

All members of the onion family share certain key qualities: they are pungent, and they promote warmth and therefore move energy in the body.  This action help resolve blood stagnancies and clotting. They are perhaps the richest foods in sulfur, a warming element that purifies the body of  heavy metals, parasites, and facilitate protein metabolism. These plants also clean the arteries, lowering blood pressure and cholesterol.  Decrease phlegm and inflammation of the nose and throat inhibiting allergy reactions.  And slow the growth of viruses and yeasts. A new study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found onions to help maintain healthy bones by (the longest named compound I have ever seen!) which inhibited the activity of osteoclasts (the cell that break down bone).

Certain members of the onion family are higher in the therapeutic properties.  The condition of the soil and it’s sulfur content conduct the nutrient’s placement. In general, the most pungent onions deliver many time the benefits. Western yellow onions and shallots had the most flavonoids, 11 times the amount found in the western white, empire sweets, vidalias and imperial valley sweet.  The sweeter varieties carmalize better but showed little cancer-fighting abilities. So, next time your eyes water when you’re slicing onions, be glad.  The onion you’re cutting is likely to be loaded with beneficial phytonutrients.

In Health,