{"id":51,"date":"2011-12-08T09:07:38","date_gmt":"2011-12-08T07:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.radioislam.org.za\/wordpress\/2011\/12\/08\/tearfully-pleasing-uses-for-onions\/"},"modified":"2011-12-08T09:07:38","modified_gmt":"2011-12-08T07:07:38","slug":"tearfully-pleasing-uses-for-onions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/tearfully-pleasing-uses-for-onions\/","title":{"rendered":"Tearfully …..pleasing uses for onions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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People, despite getting teary-eyed, enjoy the numerous culinary uses of the onion. The gas containing vegetable is both a primary ingredient and a flavor enhancer in many dishes. If you think its list of uses end at the kitchen, you better think again. It is proven to be a medicinal wonder, as well as a metal polisher and an insect repellent. With its number of alternative uses, the onion may induce tears of joy to anyone…
I'm crying as I read this (sniff, sniff)–not over some personal tragedy (sniff) but because I just chopped an onion.<\/p>\n

You see, when you cut an onion, you release sulfur compounds. They combine with the fluids in and around your eyes to create a weak sulfuric acid and your eyes water to flush it away.<\/p>\n

What can you do to prevent this? Other than have someone else chop the onions, not much. Chilling the onions seems to help, as does rinsing them frequently as you cut them, and you can even wear form-fitting safety goggles (if you don't mind the odd stares). A sharp knife is key, because it will tear the cells less than a dull one and reduce the amount of sulfides released. Since there are more sulfur compounds in the root end, saving it for last may help, too.
Finding a way to reduce the sad effects of onions has been the goal of cooks for centuries, because for centuries, the onion has been a staple in the kitchen. Since ancient times, they have been a traditional food of the poor, often combined with bread to make a meal.<\/p>\n

Simple Onion Cutting Tips
The bigger and firmer the onion, the easier it will be to cut. A wet onion is easier to peel than a dry one.
Use a sharp knife—a dull knife can slip and will mash rather than slice through the onion. Use a straight-edge chef’s knife, if you have one, rather than a serrated knife, for cleaner cuts.
Be sure your cutting board is positioned securely on the counter. If necessary, place a damp kitchen towel underneath to keep the board from sliding around.
If cutting onions ahead of time, pack them in a plastic zipper-lock freezer bag, squeezing all the air out, then enclose in a second plastic zipper-lock freezer bag, and refrigerate, to keep everything in your fridge from tasting like onions.
When you need only a small portion of an onion, do not peel the whole onion. Cut off the size you need and peel it. The remaining portion will keep longer with the skin on it in the refrigerator.
Use pre-cut onions within 2 days.
Save onion trimmings, including the papery brown skin and add to soup stock for golden color, store in a well-sealed plastic zipper-lock freezer bag in your freezer.
If you need the juice of an onion, squeeze half an onion with the skin on it. Use a lemon squeezer.<\/p>\n

•    Add onions to almost any stew or stir-fry.
•    To get a bit of raw onion into your diet, combine chopped onions,
tomatoes, avocado, and jalapeño peppers for a blood sugar-friendly chip dip. Finish with a splash of lime juice.<\/p>\n

•    Sauté chopped onions in olive oil and add to corn, potatoes, or peas.
•    Add chopped scallions to rice dishes.
•    Add sliced onions to green salads.
•    Use chopped onions to add crunch to any sandwich salad, such as
chicken, tuna, or egg salad.<\/p>\n

•    Make fruit chutney with peaches, mangos, pears, apples, or apricots
and plenty of chopped onion. Serve with meals as a condiment that won’t upset your blood sugar balance.<\/p>\n

•    Roast some onions to serve as a savory side dish. Cut the root and
top from a large onion. Place root side down on a foil-covered baking sheet and bake for about an hour at 400°F (200°C). When it’s done, remove it from the oven and make a deep crisscross cut in the top.<\/p>\n

Season with flavored vinegar, herbs, sea salt, coarse-ground pepper, and olive oil<\/p>\n

Buying & Storing Onions
When buying onions, choose those that are heavy for their size with dry, papery skins, and that show no signs of spotting or moistness.
Avoid onions that are soft or sprouting. Young onions are sweeter than old ones. They should have absolutely NO SMELL whatever. If they do, they are probably bruised somewhere under the skin and are on their way out.
Store onions in a cool dry place with good air circulation for up to three months.<\/p>\n

The onion is widely used for medicinal purposes. Much like garlic, onions have antibiotic qualities, can improve circulation, lower high blood pressure, stabilize blood sugar levels, and decrease the symptoms of colds and coughs. Eating plenty of onions will give you good health and bad breath. Eating parsley will help to neutralize onion breath.<\/p>\n

Onion may help remove a wart if you rub a cut piece on the wart once a day until it disappears. Rubbing onion on the skin is also thought to improve acne. If you have been stung by a bee or bitten by a mosquito rubbing onion on the bite can ease the pain. A bit of crushed onion mixed with salt can soothe a burn.<\/p>\n

We are always looking for ways to get onion odors out of our countertops, cutting boards, and kitchens. It might seem strange that onions can be used to remove the odor of paint from your home but it works! If you have just painted a room and you want to get rid of that strong paint smell you can put a peeled onion in a bucket half filled with water in the center of the room. If you have just painted your cabinets place a cut onion on a dish and put it inside the cabinet to remove the smell.
You can make your own insect repellent using onion and mineral oil.
Place chopped or minced onion in a dish and cover it with mineral oil.
Leave the dish near a window for approximately 5 days and then remove the onion pieces from the oil. Put the oil into an empty spray bottle and add a cup of water. Shake the mixture well and your spray is ready.
Remove rust from knives
Forget about using steel wool or harsh chemicals — how’s this for an easy way to get the rust off your kitchen or utility knives? Plunge your rusty knife into a large onion three or four times (if it’s very rusty, it may require a few extra stabs). The only tears you shed will be ones of joy over your rust-free blade.<\/p>\n

Eliminate new paint smell
your bedroom’s new shade of paint looks great, but the smell is keeping you up all night. What to do? Place several freshly cut slices of onion in a dish with a bit of water. It will absorb the smell within a few hours Soothe a bee sting if you have a nasty encounter with a bee at a barbecue, grab one of the onion slices intended for your burger and place it over the area where you got stung. It will ease the soreness. (If you are severely allergic to bee or other insect stings, seek medical attention at
once.)<\/p>\n

Use as a natural pesticide
Whip up an effective insect and animal repellent for the flowers and vegetables in your garden. In a blender, puree 4 onions, 2 cloves garlic, 2 tablespoons cayenne pepper, and 1 quart water (1 liter). Set the mixture aside. Now dilute 2 tablespoons soap flakes in 2 gallons
(7.5 liters) water. Pour in the contents of your blender, shake or stir well, and you have a potent, environment-friendly solution to spray on your plants.<\/p>\n

Reduce blood sugar level:
The regular consumption of onions lowers the glucose level found during intravenous glucose tolerance tests. As per clinical and experimental research, onions contain allyl propyl disulfide that helps in reducing the level of blood sugar by increase the amount of free insulin.<\/p>\n

Ensure gastrointestinal health:
Onions comes packed with enormous flavonoids, these flavonoids helps to reduce the risk of colon cancer. It has also been seen that onion consumption in animals inhibits the growth of tumours and protect colon cells from further damages.<\/p>\n

Prevent cholera:
The regular consumption of onions is associated with prevention of cholera. Onions works wonder to treat cholera. All you need to do is make a paste of thirty grams of onion and 7 black peppers. On the other hand it also helps to lessens diarrhoea and vomiting.<\/p>\n

Prevent hair loss:
Onion is an effective solution for preventing hair loss. On applying juice of onion on scalp for twice a week, you’ll see hair re-growth.
Ensure good skin health:
Onions helps in stimulating blood circulation in the mucous membrane.
If you apply onions on the warts, boils, wounds and bruises, etc, you are bound to get an effective result. Juice of onions when mixed with olive oil and honey works best to cure acne.<\/p>\n

—
Ammarah
Radio Islam
+27118547022
ammarah@radioislam.co.za
www.radioislam.co.za<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People, despite getting teary-eyed, enjoy the numerous culinary uses of the onion. The gas containing vegetable is both a primary ingredient and a flavor enhancer in many dishes. If you think its list of uses end at the kitchen, you better think again. It is proven to be a medicinal wonder, as well as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[252,253,294],"class_list":["post-51","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-household","tag-handy-hints","tag-household","tag-tearfully-pleasing-uses-for-onions"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-P","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-24 23:47:02","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}