Onion juice

“ The onion belongs to the genus Allium, all the species of which possess a peculiar, pungent, acrid juice, with a powerful odour. The garlic has a stronger smell than the onion, but the onion has more of the volatile oil which all the members of the genus possess.
The constituents which make the genus valuable as food are: albumen, sugar, mucilage, phosphate of lime, and certain salts. All the members of the onion tribe yield a heavy volatile oil when distilled with water—an oil so pungent and concentrated that an ounce of it will represent the essence of forty pounds of garlic. ”

“ The action of the volatile oil enhances that of sulphur. Spanish onion boiled and eaten freely at bed-time is an excellent laxative. Moderately used the onion increases the appetite, promotes digestion, but in large quantities it causes flatulence, uneasiness in the stomach and bowels. The juice mixed with sugar is useful in cough, colds, and croup where there is little inflammation. Roasted or split it is excellent as a local application in croup, tonsilitis and earache. Boiling deprives the onion of its essential oil. ”

“ In fact, in all skin diseases, and in many inflammatory disorders, preparations of the onion have a real value. The juice is also useful in stopping bleeding, although one may hesitate to believe, as was popularly supposed, that a drop of it will cure earache, and that persistent application will remove deafness. ”

“ ONION SAUCE * 3 Small Onions—1/2d. * * 1 oz. Butter—1d. * * Lemon Juice * * 1/2 pint Milk * * 1 oz. Bread Crumbs * * Pepper and Salt—1 1/2d. * * Total Cost—3d. * * Time—5 Minutes. * Peel the onions, put them into cold water, and let them boil for a minute. Strain away the water, cover again with cold water, boil up and cook till soft; take out the water, chop small. Put the butter and milk into a saucepan, and when it boils put in the bread crumbs and onions. Cook slowly for five minutes, season with pepper, salt, and a few drops of lemon juice, and it is ready to serve. ”

“ Get white onions that are not too large, cut the stem close to the root with a sharp knife, put them in a pot, pour on boiling salt and water to cover them, stop the pot closely, let them stand a fortnight, changing the salt and water every three days; they must be stirred daily, or those that float will become soft; at the end of this time, take off the skin and outer shell, put them in plain cold vinegar with a little turmeric. If the vinegar be not very pale, the onion will not be of a good colour. ”

“ When your Onions are dry enough to be laid up in the House, take the smallest of them, such as are about the bigness of a small Walnut, and of that sort which we call the Spanish Onion, for these are not so strong flavour'd as the Strasburgh Onions; take off only the outward dry Coat, and boil them in one Water without shifting, till they begin to grow tender; then take them off the Fire, lay them in a Sieve or Cullendar to drain and cool; and as soon as they are quite cold, take off two other Coats or Skins from each, and rub them gently in a linnen Cloth to dry. ”

“ The juice is sensibly acid, and is capable of being, by fermentation, converted into vinegar, and, mixed with water or the dregs of beer, yields, by distillation, an alcoholic liquor. Although used as a common esculent, onions are not suited to all stomachs; there are some who cannot eat them either fried or roasted, whilst others prefer them boiled, which is the best way of using them, as, by the process they then undergo, they are deprived of their essential oil. The pulp of roasted onions, with oil, forms an excellent anodyne and emollient poultice to suppurating tumours. ”

“ Whoever wishes to preserve his health must eat every morning, before breakfast, young onions, with honey. [IX_142] Such a treat is assuredly not very tempting: besides, this rather strong vegetable leaves after it a most unpleasant perfume, which long reminds us of its presence; wherefore this recipe has not met with favour, and, indeed, it is much to be doubted whether it will ever become fashionable.
Alexander the Great found the onion in Egypt, where the Hebrews had learned to like it. ”

“ Each of these classes has many varieties, which vary in flavor and in color, some of the dried ones being yellow, some red, and others white. All dried onions have excellent keeping qualities, so, after purchasing, no special care need be given to them except to store them in a comparatively cool, dry place. Deterioration is due chiefly to sprouting, for as soon as the new plant begins to grow from the center of the onion, the remainder becomes soft and loses much of its flavor. ”

“ This flavor, however, can be almost entirely dissipated by cooking, so that many persons who cannot eat the various members of the onion family raw can tolerate them cooked. In food value, which is found principally as carbohydrate in the form of sugar, this class of foods is not very high, being about the same as carrots, beets, and other root vegetables. Some persons believe that onions have wonderful medicinal value in curing colds and preventing them, but there is really no foundation for such a belief. ”

“ Still further south, still further east, you will journey but to find the onion fainter in flavour, until in India it seems but a pale parody of its English prototype. And again, at different seasons, very different are its most salient qualities. In great gladness of heart everyone must look forward to the dainty little spring onion: adorable as vegetable cooked in good white sauce, inscrutable as guardian spirit of fresh green salad, irreproachable as pickle in vinegar and mustard.
Garlic is one of the most gracious gifts of the gods to men—a gift, alas! too frequently abused. ”

“ Peel and slice onions under water to keep the volatile oil from the eyes. A cup of vinegar boiling on the stove modifies the disagreeable odor of onions cooking. Boil a frying pan in water with wood ashes, potash, or soda in it to remove the odor and taste of onions. To rub silver with lemon removes the onion taste from it. Leaves of parsley eaten like cress with vinegar hide the odor of onions in the breath. Onions to be eaten raw or cooked will lose their rank flavor if they are pulled and thrown into salt water an hour before use. Two waters in boiling accomplish the same purpose. ”

“ Lay them in a baking-dish, put in bread crumbs, butter in small bits, pepper and salt, between each layer until the dish is full, putting bread crumbs last; add milk or cream until full. Bake twenty minutes or half an hour.
A little onion is not an injurious article of food, as many believe. A judicious use of plants of the onion family is quite as important a factor in successful cookery as salt and pepper. When carefully concealed by manipulation in food, it affords zest and enjoyment to many who could not otherwise taste of it were its presence known. ”

“ The cripple thanked him and taking the food, began to eat the onion.
'You have taken the onion in your right hand and the date in your left,' said the Sheikh. 'And you are eating the onion first.'
'This is true,' answered the Egyptian. 'I see that my lord has indeed eyes in his fingers.'
'I have,' said the Sheikh. 'But that is not all, for this is an allegory. All men like to eat the onion first and the date afterwards, for though the onion be ever so sweet and tender, its taste is bitter when a man has eaten sugar-dates before it. ”

“ If the vegetables are greened in vinegar, as French beans and gherkins, this will not be so necessary, but the adoption of this process will tend to improve all. Onions had better not be wetted at all; but if it be desirous not to have the full flavour, both onions, shalots, and garlic may be sprinkled with salt in a cullender, to draw off all the strong juice ”

“ Hilderic Friend says that the Arabs, Chinese, and many other peoples, to this day employ onions, leeks, or garlic for preventing witchcraft, and that he himself has frequently seen them tied up with a branch of sago-palm over the doors of Eastern houses for this purpose.
The old custom of throwing an onion after a bride is doubtless well known. It had the same origin as the old Scotch custom of throwing a besom after a cow on its way to market, to avert the evil-eye, and insure luck.
The idea of bad dreams being associated with the onion seems due to the old herbalists. ”

“ The vegetable of which there is the next greatest street sale is onions, upon which 90,000l. are annually expended. This has been before accounted for, by saying, that a piece of bread and an onion are to the English labourer what bread and grapes are to the Frenchman—oftentimes a meal. The relish for onions by the poorer classes is not difficult to explain. Onions are strongly stimulating substances, and they owe their peculiar odour and flavour, as well as their pungent and stimulating qualities, to an acrid volatile oil which contains sulphur. ”

“ The flavor of onion, when strong, is unpleasant to some people to a nauseating degree and it is hard to see in it any resemblance to its dainty cousins, the lily and the hyacinth. But when skillfully used it is a valuable and wholesome [Pg 23] culinary condiment and is more largely employed by the average cook than the uninitiated ever suspect. Says one author: “The onion is the sheet anchor of the skillful cook. It is impossible to prepare the delicate Bordelaise sauce without resorting to the use of onions and a shade of garlic, ... ”

“ ONIONS. If onions are peeled in the open air they will not affect the eyes. Only the Spanish onions are pleasant as a vegetable. The English onion is too strong for most people.
Steam medium-sized onions from 45 mins. to 1 hour. Serve with white sauce, flavoured with a very little mace or nutmeg, if liked. For baked onions, first steam for 30 minutes and then bake for 30 minutes. Put nutter or butter on each onion. Cook until brown. Onions for frying should be sliced and floured. Fry for 5 or 6 minutes in very little fat. This is best done in a covered stew-pan. ”

“ If a very slight flavour is required and the onion is strong, like in the North of England, for it must be remembered that the further north you go the stronger the flavour of the root, and if French receipt books are exactly copied, it is no wonder complaints are made of the preponderance of the flavour of the onion; in which case, when chopped, put them in the corner of a napkin or cloth, wash them in water, squeeze them dry, then put them back on the board, and chop finer, or sometimes only rubbing the pan or the meat with the onion is quite sufficient. ”

“ It is open to grave doubt whether the author of The Family Dictionary was right in saying that 'they that will eat onions daily will enjoy better health than otherwise.' What is one man's meat is another man's poison; and certainly there is no article in common use which produces such opposite effects upon the human system as the onion. It has often been found beneficial to individuals in feverish attacks, and yet the malingerers in our garrison hospitals know well how to promote febrile symptoms by a hearty consumption of garlic. ”

“ The onions may be roasted, then pulped, in place of being boiled. A very little mace, or nutmeg, may be added to onion sauce having cream in it. Brown onion sauce is made by frying, in butter, some sliced Spanish onions; simmer them in brown gravy, or broth, over a slow fire, add salt, pepper, cayenne, and a piece of butter, rolled in browned flour. Skim the sauce, add 1⁄2 a glass of Port or claret, the same of mushroom catsup, or a dessert-spoonful of walnut pickle, or eschalot vinegar. To make the sauce milder, boil a turnip with the onions. ”

“ In the whole of them the bulb is the most active part, and any one of them may supply the place of the other; for they are all irritant, excitant, and vesicant. With many, the onion is a very great favourite, and is considered an extremely nutritive vegetable. The Spanish kind is frequently taken for supper, it being simply boiled, and then seasoned with salt, pepper, and butter. Some dredge on a little flour, but many prefer it without this.
BURNT ONIONS FOR GRAVIES. 1130. INGREDIENTS.—1/2 lb. of onions, 1/3 pint of water, 1/2 lb. of moist sugar, 1/3 pint of vinegar. ”

“ Parsnips and potatoes, in Scotland, are often beaten up with butter, and a nice dish for children prepared from them.
The varieties of the Onion tribe are more widely spread over the whole world than any other article of food. The onion, leek, chive, garlic, and shallot are the kinds in most universal use. In Egypt and many parts of Africa, it is noted for its very delicate taste, being less pungent and the odor less offensive than those raised with us. ”

“ These herbs can be grown so easily if one has a small garden, or even in a box, with very little care; they impart such a pleasant flavour to soups and gravies. Leeks cut up with the green tops and put into the stock pot instead of onions are very good. Part of the onion skin left on makes a good colour, but it can be coloured by burning half a teaspoonful of sugar in an old spoon, or by a few drops of caramel—the recipe for which is given elsewhere. ”

“ Raw Onions contain an acrid volatile oil, sulphur, phosphorus, alkaline earthy salts, phosphoric and acetic acids, with phosphate and citrate of lime, starch, free uncrystallized sugar, and lignine. The fresh juice is colourless, but by exposure to the air becomes red. A syrup made from the juice with honey is an excellent medicine for old phlegmatic persons in cold weather, when their lungs are stuffed, and the breathing is hindered. ”

“ When this has simmered long enough to extract all the flavor, and the parings are broken to pieces, strain off the water through a thick cloth. Put the quinces into the preserve-kettle when this water is almost cold, pour it over them and boil, stirring and mashing the fruit with a wooden spoon as it becomes soft. The juice of two oranges to every three pounds of the fruit imparts an agreeable flavor. When you have reduced all to a smooth paste, stir in a scant three-quarters of a pound of sugar for every pound of fruit; boil ten minutes more, stirring constantly. ”