Onions

Onions have been cultivated and eaten since prehistoric times. They appeared in ancient Egyptian tomb paintings, The writings of Pliny and Juvenal (Roman authors)  tell us that onions were actually articles of worship in ancient Egypt. In ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, it was common for the common folk to consume them raw. 

A Turkish legend says that, when Satan was thrown out of heaven, garlic and onions grew where he placed his feet. There are many other myths about onions, including one that’s been floating around the Internet lately.  It claims that cut onion in a room can help a patient recover from the flu.  That’s closely related to a much older idea that cut onion left around the house would absorb germs and keep the residents healthy. Snopes.com debunks this one and many other onion myths.

Exactly what  vegetables should be called onions?  This is an area of some confusion. The name is sometimes applied to all members of the genus (family) Allium, which includes garlic, chives, shallots, and leeks.  Are all these onions?  Yes and no.  They are Alliums, but they are different species of Allium.  In the Q/As on onions on this site, the answers given apply only to Allium cepa (the globe-like bulb onion) unless the question indicates otherwise.