My Great Grandmother Lillie Belle McBride lived her entire life on J Street in Davis. She had six children and helped to take care of dozens of other neighbor kids and nieces and nephews. The story is that when one child let out a single cough, out came the onions and the whole house would reek of onions as she cooked them up. She would chop up several onions, put them in a little water and slow cook them into an onion syrup. Every child that walked through her door then had to drink the onion syrup; it helped to keep a cold from spreading through the pack of kids. She didn't want to take care of a dozen sick kids so she relied on onions to keep everyone well!
In fact, onions are used throughout the world for colds, cough and flu. Like garlic, onions are rich in sulfur compounds that are highly anti-bacterial. They are effective against salmonella, e-coli and dozens of other pathogenic bacteria.
Onions increase circulation, warm the body, help to expel mucus and keep the bowels moving. Onions have long been used the world over for almost every respiratory ailment including bronchitis and whooping cough. Raw and cooked onions have expectorant properties which help to rid the body of phlegm and also prevent the formation of mucus.
Onions are a very rich source of fructi-oligosaccharides which stimulate the growth of healthy flora and suppress the growth of potentially harmful bacteria in the colon. By supporting healthy gut flora, onions help you to better digest the nutrients from all of your food.
Clinical studies show that a diet rich in raw onions helps to reduce high cholesterol, high blood pressure and prevent arteriosclerosis.
Onions are a good dietary source of Magnesium, Potassium, Calcium, Vitamin A and C. Onions are also one of the richest food sources of quercetin, which helps to reduce inflammation associated with allergies and asthma.
We are what we eat and your food is your first medicine. There is hardly a food that has more health benefits than an onion. I think the saying should be, " An onion a day keeps the doctor away!" As a medicinal food there are no known side-effects of onions except raw onions can aggravate stomach ulcers and heart burn.
Kami McBride, Herbalist (see Kami's bio below)
1 finely chopped onion
2 minced garlic cloves
2 tablespoons curry powder
1/2teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
Warm olive oil in a pan. Add garlic and onions. Sautee for several minutes then add curry and salt. Cook the onions until they are soft. Curried onions are great for fighting off a cold at the onset of cold and flu symptoms. Eat them alone or put over rice.
1 finely chopped onion
1 minced garlic clove
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger root
1/8 teaspoon cayenne powder
1 cup organic apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup honey
Put ingredients into a glass mason jar with the lid on. Let steep for two weeks during which the properties of the onion, garlic and ginger will infuse into the apple cider vinegar. After two weeks use a piece of cotton muslin and strain everything out of the vinegar and discard the food ingredients. Add honey to the vinegar and mix well. You now have a very potent medicinal vinegar that is a great remedy to take when you very first start to feel like you are catching a cold. At the onset of cold symptoms take one tablespoon three times a day. This is not a good remedy if spicy foods bother you or if you have ulcers. Shelf life: six months.
2 sliced onions
1 cup water
1/2 cup honey
Put onions and water into a glass Pyrex pan. Bake at 250 degress in the oven for 30 minutes. Pour the juice from the pan, add honey to the juice and mix well. Take by the tablespoon up to five tablespoons a day for cold symptoms. Shelf life: several days.