Onion - Culinary Dictionary

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Onion		It is thought that bulbs from the onion family have been used as a food source for millennia. In Caananite Bronze Age settlements, traces of onion remains were found alongside fig and date stones dating back to 5000 BC. However, it is not clear if these were cultivated onions. Archaeological and literary evidence suggests cultivation probably took place around two thousand years later in ancient Egypt, at the same time that leeks and garlic were cultivated. Workers who built the Egyptian pyramids may have been fed radishes and onions.[3] The onion is easily propagated, transported and stored. Egyptians worshipped it, believing that its spherical shape and concentric rings symbolized eternal life. Onions were even used in Egyptian burials as evidenced by onion traces being found in the eye sockets of Ramesses IV. They believed that if buried with the dead, the strong scent of onions would bring breath back to the dead. In ancient Greece, athletes ate large quantities of onion because it was believed that it would lighten the balance of blood. Roman gladiators were rubbed down with onion to firm up their muscles. In the Middle Ages onions were such an important food that people would pay for their rent with onions and even give them as gifts. Doctors were known to prescribe onions to relieve headaches, snakebite and hair loss. The onion was introduced to North America by Christopher Columbus on his 1493 expedition to Haiti. Onions were also prescribed by doctors in the early 1500s to help with infertility in women, and even dogs and cattle and many other household pets.

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Onion - Culinary Dictionary - Marek Jani Chef