Health Benefits Onions

Cut Onion Without Crying-Peeling Onions

Kids love to cook and they hate to peel or cut onions. Not many adults can peel and cut an onion without crying, so needless to say, at the last children’s cooking class I had on Souper Soups we had a lot of tears in the room. We made Willy-Nilly Chili and Flew The Coop Soup. Both are simple from-scratch recipes for kids and I am sure you can figure out what each one is. Of course both recipes require cutting onions.

As a person who can peel and cut most onions without crying, the only tips I can give to avoid crying while cutting onions are:

• Don’t talk. Keep your mouth closed.
• Stand facing the fan or window or stove with the cutting board between you and the fan, window or stove. This is as opposed to you being in the path of the air flow.
• Stand up straight. Don’t bend over your cutting board.
• Don’t touch your face.

Health Benefits of Onions

A powerful onion has more powerful health benefits. So if you are crying a lot, it may mean that you have a good onion! A sulfur-containing compound is responsible for the onion’s strong odor and also its healthy benefits to you. Onions have been cultivated worldwide for over 5000 years. In Egypt they were used as money to pay workers building the pyramids, so were frequently the staple food of poor people.

Benefits of Onion

Over the years many health benefits have been attributed to the onion. They have been used as diuretics, to cure measles, to cure liver disease and as a benefit to the lungs. Today we know that onions are rich in chromium, which assists our body in insulin responses, as well as high in vitamin C and many other nutrients including dietary fiber and triptophan. The more onion in a diet, the lower the level of glucose found during oral or intravenous glucose tolerance tests.*

Other healthy benefits that modern science has attributed to onions are:

• Anti-Inflammatory
• Anti-Bacterial Activity
• Boost Bone Health
• Protective against Ovarian Cancer (due to flavonoids)
• Protective against Many Cancers
• Support Gastrointestinal Health
• Cardiovascular Benefits

Healthy Onion Soup Recipe

This is my healthy variation of your favorite restaurant baked onion soup recipe. When you make this healthy version you will get all the health benefits of onions without the calories of eating out.

Classic French Onion Soup
1 Tbs. olive oil
2 lb. sliced onion
3 tbs. fresh rosemary-minced
3 Tbs. fresh thyme-minced
2 cloves garlic-pressed
1 Tbs. Wondra™ flour
½ cup Madeira
1 quart rich chicken stock
1 quart beef stock
¼ tsp. salt
½ tsp. black pepper

Per Person:
1 ½ oz part skim mozzarella-sliced
1 Tbs. fine quality fresh parmesan cheese
1 pc. whole grain bread

1. Heat oil in bottom of heavy sauce pot.
2. Add onions and caramelize thoroughly on medium heat. Onions should be very brown on all sides but not burnt.
3. Add herbs, flour and garlic. Sauté 1 minute.
4. Deglaze pan with Madeira, stirring particles up from bottom of pot.
5. Add stocks, gradually. Heat to a boil and simmer for 45 minutes.

At Service:
In broiler proof bowl, top each bowl of hot soup with 1 piece of bread and cheeses. Parmesan goes on last. Broil for 5 minutes or until brown.

*Ali M, Thomson M, Afzal M. Garlic and onions: their effect on eicosanoid metabolism and its clinical relevance. Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids. 2000 Feb;62(2):55-73. Review 2000.

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