Onions

Cultivated originally in southwestern Asia, onions are rarely found still growing wild, and are now grown as a biennial across the globe. The largest producers of onions are found in China, India, Russia and the United States . In this country the top growers are located in California, Oregon and Texas. The ancient Egyptians believed that onions were the symbol of everlasting life and they harvested onions in great quantities for their medicinal use. Drawings depicting this have even been discovered in their tomb paintings. The Greek historian Herodotus reported that the builders of the great pyramids consumed large amounts of garlic and onions for better health and increased strength. However not all ancient civilizations were enamored with onions as in ancient India they were actually forbidden. In our country the earliest settlers found onions growing wild. And legend has it that the American Indians of the Great Lakes region called onions she-khe-ony, which later became Chicago and was how that great city got its name.

The onion has an unmistakable taste and is indispensable in the kitchen. It is also one of the few vegetables that can be found in breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes. While fresh onions are preferred by many cooks the dehydrated onion has its place in your kitchen as well. The fresh onion if not used soon will rot in the pantry and of course the chopping of them can literally bring tears to your eyes. So many cook s have added to their cooking arsenal the convenient dried onion forms: flakes, granules, minced and powdered.Onion Flakes are best used when you looking for onion aroma and flavor and your recipe is in need of some added texture. Onion Granules allow easy dispersible onion flavor, but not the texture. Granules are also more easily measured than flakes, and they don’t cake like powdered onion does. Onion granules also provide more bulk and thickening characteristics than powder. Onion Powder like onion granules provides flavor and aroma, but not texture.