Onions | Cultivated to Add Flavor and Spice to Your Meal

A Common Staple in Many Cuisines, Onions Are the Fruit of a Stocky Evergreen Plant Grown for Their Thick, White Flesh.

Onions have several health benefits, mostly due to their high content of antioxidants and sulfur-containing compounds. Onions are well known as bulb onions or common onions and they vary in size and flavor. The most common types are white, yellow, red, and sweet. The taste ranges from mild and sweet to sharp and spicy, depending on the variety and the time of harvest. Many types of onions can be enjoyed raw, baked, boiled, grilled, fried, roasted, and sautéed.

Different types of Onion:

• Yellow Onion - The all-purpose onion and the one we use most often. They have a nice balance of astringency and sweetness in their flavor
• White Onion - These onions tend to have a sharper and more pungent flavor than yellow onions and they also tend to be more tender and have a thinner, more papery skin
• Red Onion - Fairly similar to yellow onions in flavor, though their layers are slightly less tender and meaty. Red onions are most often used in salads, salsas, and other raw preparations for their color and relatively mild flavor.
• Sweet Onion - Walla Walla and Vidalia are the most common kinds of sweet onions. These onions lack the sharp, astringent taste of other onions and really do taste sweet. They are fantastic thinly sliced and served in salads or on top of sandwiches.

Health Benefits:

• Very low in calories, with high water content, carbs, and a tiny amount of protein
• Decent source of fiber
• Main dietary sources of fructans, a healthy soluble fibers
• Contain butyrate that can improve colon health, reduce inflammation, and cut your risk of colon cancer
• Contain decent amounts of vitamin C, folate, vitamin B6, and potassium
• Rich in plant compounds and antioxidants, especially quercetin and sulfur-containing compounds
• Yellow onion and red onion are packed with more antioxidants than the white onion
• It may help with blood sugar regulation, bone health, and the reduction of cancer risk