“Wow! I never knew onions could do all that!”

Well, you learn something new every day! I like to think of myself as a fairly seasoned chef (pun intended) and I have what I THOUGHT was a fairly decent knowledge of onions but I just never really honed in and learned all there was to learn (obviously) about this incredible vegetable!

Onions are a remarkable food and if you’re anything like me you want to spice up those particular dishes with just the right culinary flare. Take a look at the incredible edible onion and its various uses.

The crux of the matter is knowing which onion to use for which dish.

While I’ve been using the “White Onion’ for pico de gallo and salsa I haven’t been using it for stir-fries. And while I knew ‘Red Onions’ were best raw I never have used them in guacamole. Also never having really differentiated much between the ‘Sweet Onion’ and the ‘Yellow Onion’ before seeing this chart things are finally starting to make more sense. The ‘Sweet Onion’ tastes a bit similar to the ‘White Onion’ from what I could tell but is more likely a member of the ‘Yellow Onion’ family tree.

It’s late 1:22 A.M. to be exact and now I probably won’t be able to sleep as visions of onions and recipes will be whirling around in my cranium.

I am ashamed and embarrassed to say that I’ve never cooked with or purchased a ‘Shallot’ in my life but have of course dined on them in restaurants.

Overall I must conclude that the basic household everyday ‘Yellow Onion’ is most likely my personal favorite as they seem to be most versitale and I love meat dishes, soups, sauces and gravies and prepare a lot of them.

Onions. What’s your favorite?

Note: (This Op-Ed was written by Brenda Roskos Publisher and Editor of M1N and who’s been cooking and using onions for almost 40 years 🙂