Know your onions

Know your onions!

Onions are well known for their medicinal values. It is one of the foods suggested along with garlic to keep us free of heart problems.  It has also been traditionally used to help with colds, chest infections and ear ache. A common cure for bronchitis in the old days was to cut a large, raw, Spanish onion into quarters, and put under the bed of the sufferer. It was remembered as a very effective treatment.It could also be a used to treat earache,  an onion cut in half, applied to the ears, and kept in place with a scarf. For a cough medicine, a raw  onion, sliced was covered with brown sugar and left to stand over night. The liquid that it produced was an effect cough medicine.

There are many people in the 70s who can remember such treatments, and they vouched for their effectiveness, in the days before free health care, or when their parents could not afford the patient medicine. As with many cures that have been thought of as ‘old wife’s tales’ research has provided the validity of the original claims, and much more.

The onion is rich in Quercetin. The main source is to be found in the part of the onion that is usually thrown away both at home and in the manufacture of ready meals. That part is the papery outer skin. It is worth reading the results of tests carried out by the European Journal of Biochemistry 2003. The findings suggest the benefits are:-

• Protection from aging, vascular disease,
• Protection from certain forms of cancer, prostate, ovary, breast, colon and gastric cells.
• Quercetin is also anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic and antioxidant.

Studies are on going as to the wonderful properties the onion skin has.
James A. Duke,Ph.D. the American herbalist, in his book The Green Pharmacy, extols the virtues of the onion for preventing cataracts and heart disease, for treating allergies, asthma, burns, colds, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, HIV infection, inflammatory bowel disease, insect bites, pneumonia, scabies, tuberculosis, varicose veins and yeast infections. There are three things in this impressive list that is a major cause for concern for older folk, they are high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.

Dr. Duke recommends a soup using the onions in a novel way, and that it to use the entire onion, cut into quarters, and cooked with the other ingredients.   Before serving, the onion pieces are removed and the outer skin discarded at that point.

Another possible way of using this valuable source of Quercetin is to make your own tincture.  Herbalists today use this method of extracting the goodness out of plant material, and that is to take about 4 ounces (120 grams) of the onion skins, put into an air tight jar with 1 pint (half a litre) of vodka.  This should be kept in a warm place and shaken twice a day for two weeks.  The liquid should be strained off through muslin, and the remaining plant material squeezed to get every last drop. This should be poured into,  and stored  in a dark bottle. Label, name and date it so that it is not confused with anything else. Smaller quantities can be made if it is only for your own consumption, and as you are using onions in your own kitchen.

To take the tincture use a little water, and add 15 drops of it. It could also be taken in a vegetable juice, mixed with carrots, peppers, beet root;  basically what ever you fancy that is good for your health.