Lately I visited a science festival and came across a stall showing a way of preserving food.A set of food items were in two lines .The front line had irradiated food items that looked very fresh and the second line had same items but non-irradiated and had degraded .. In the line of non-irradiated food I saw the sprouted onions and exclaimed what? Am I in love with the food that is a degraded version of onion? The other degraded items had clear picture of how bad they could be for health when consumed. It made me think and search about onion and its sprouted version and I came up with learning useful stuff.
- Onion sprout at the end of its storage period.
- Onions have been cultivated for several thousand years, besides their culinary use they have been used for medicinal purpose.
- Onion should not be over peeled to maximize the health benefits since flavonoids are more concentrated in the outer layer.
- Onion are rich in biotin which makes 27% of other nutrients and it has manganese, copper, vitamin B6 ,vitamin, fiber, Potassium ,Phosphorus, Vitamin B1 and folate.
- Onion should be stored at room temperature away from heat and light.
- They should not be stored with other vegetables as they tend to absorb moisture from them which causes decay.
- Spring onions could be stored in a plastic bags in fridge but other types should not be refrigerated.
Sprouted Onion
Onions sprout at the end of their storage period. My long observations have shown that onions usually sprout in the month of November and has mild taste, they go really well with salads. When provided and suitable environment they keep on growing and the green part can be used for long time in salads while its bulb shrinks as the leaves grows. This is how I let grow a sprouted onion on my kitchen window.
In our cuisine we have used the sprouted onions for long time and we have not come across any side effects rather enjoyed the flavor in salads. Thus, sprouted onion are safe to eat.Let’s explore stages of sprouts!
Cookingclinic 