Not a Breath

A great cook once told me that onions are used for seasoning – not side dishes. Maybe not, but I happen to like them as a vegetable therefore a side dish. The breath they bestow on those who eat them might prevent enjoying them at all - flavoring or side dish. Onions have low levels of the tear-causing chemical pyruvate, as well as onion breath.
The onion has a recent taste acceptance because of the “sweet” varieties developed in the past few decades in Washington, Georgia and Texas. Some still tear my eyes even as they are sweet enough to eat raw. The story of the Walla Walla Sweet Onions begins in the literature in Italy and later the Island of Corsica. It was there that a French soldier found a sweet onion seed and brought it to the Walla Walla Valley in Washington state in the late 1800's. And Italy claims sweet onion origins.
Undoubtedly a sweet variety was developed there but I question other statements. Early hunter gatherers in the Mediterranean and eastern Europe domesticated grasses and developed wheat, oats, and barley. For centuries those grains were staple foods and were milled and baked into breads. Root crops were not cultivated until the Spanish took hundreds of varieties from the Incas. Monarchs in Europe forced peasants to grow them when wars, epidemics and famines struck. The onion would have been a welcome seasoning for the otherwise bland potato so sorely needed for nutrition.
Sweet onions have a short shelf life and the best are only available from April through September depending upon the variety. Due to the climate controlled atmosphere some may be available through December. They are marketed under the names Vidalia, Walla Walla, Texas #, Bermuda, or Maui Sweets. The South American sweet onion, Oso, is available from January through March. So you see we can have onions year around.
Alas as with the bulldog there is no individual Linneas taxonomy for the wonderful onion but I know where to go in the markets. Onions hold a special place in my pantry as a side dish vegetable and sometimes I even use it as a seasoning.
Naomi Sherer