A return to happy crying!

[Millymollymandy]

I realised something the other day whilst peeling and chopping my home grown onions. They made my eyes water and my nose stream. And then I thought, hang on, this hasn't happened for ages, years maybe. Onions are supposed to make you cry!

So what's going on with supermarket onions? Is it just in France? Here we rarely see those big Spanish style onions, just bog standard medium sized ones.

It would be interesting to hear if your shop bought onions make you cry or not. Do you think "they" have bred special onions that don't make your eyes water? I'm sure Nev can explain the chemical side of this that I don't know/understand.

[shiney]

Do you know I have thought this as well. I thought maybe it was me going mad! (which is also probable) The organic onions I have been using made me cry but I have had some bog standard ones recently that have had no effect.

I have no idea why. Maybe its a new breed of onion?

[wulf]

I was thinking the same thing earlier this year. Mind you, shallots (which I've been using a bit recently) don't seem to have undergone the same refinement!

Wulf

[Muddypause]

I think some onions must be worse at this than others, and I think some people are more sensitive. The ones I'm using at the moment are organic and don't seem too bad for me, but the big Spanish ones can really make me suffer. I have even been in the next room to someone cutting onions, and my eyes and nose started streaming. Cutting up onions en masse can be unbearable for me after a few minutes.

I've heard various reasons as to what is going on, the most plausible being to do with volatility and vapour pressure of some chemical that is present in onions. Some people suggest that it is because fine droplets squirt into your eyes when you cut them, but actually I think it is more to do with a vapour that gets into the immediate atmosphere. I suppose some onions release more of it than others.

[2steps]

I nearly alway get watery eyes

[Millymollymandy]

Interesting - so it's not just me or French onions then!

As an aside, I just read that the last Onion Johnny died recently. He had been selling Breton pink onions in England to the fancy restaurants. How come I've never seen a pink Breton onion, or even heard of them for that matter!?!?

[ina]

Maybe it's just a fancy name for the red onions that seem to be in fashion just now? It really annoys me, reading recipes (which I don't do a lot, but there's usually one or two in the Sunday Herald), and they all seem to need red onions, even if it would make the resulting food look revolting... Like red onions in a green soup, etc. Do they taste differently? They look quite attractive in salads, but that's the only place I like to see them. (Tastewise, as mentioned above for the "bite", supermarket onions don't seem to have much anyway, whether white or red.)

By the way, my friend's goats rather like onions, but only the white ones...

Ina

[Millymollymandy]

Red onions are sweeter. I love them in salads and you can't make a proper Greek salad without 'em. However for cooking, apart from one or two exceptions, I use white onions.

I'm glad I grew red onions cos round my neck of the woods red ones are tres, tres cher!

[wulf]

I like red onions in cooking - for example, if you sautee them with chopped leeks you get a beautiful side dish of green and pink rings (as long as you don't overcook the onions!). I think the trick is to add them in later than you would with white onions, so you preserve some of their distinctive colour.

Wulf

[ina]

Mmh, maybe... I think I'm just too oldfashioned, foodwise, to start anything that's not the colour I'm used to! Green cauliflowers for example, and yellow tomatoes... I'll give it a try, though. You are right, it looks wrong when it's all mushy, but if it retains shape and colour, I can imagine it might look ok.

Oh well, add red onions to the list of things to grow next year! As I say, I like them in salads, anyway. How do they keep? As well as white onions, or would I have to do anything different?

Ina

By the way, Wulf, I love your pictures! Morning Glory is also on my list for next year.