Summary
Have people started consuming onions because of its strong anti-septic qualities?
Onion consumption started around in dry countries like Egypt. Onions prevent thirst. So, it is possible that onions were first used for their thirst quenching qualities and later for their antiseptic / antibacterial properties. These anti-septic /anti-bacterial qualities may be the cause of various therapeutic qualities of onions like cure vision problems, joint problems, induce sleep, heal mouth sores, dog bites, toothaches, dysentery, headaches, snakebites, and hair loss.
By the Middle Ages, the three main vegetables of European cuisine were beans, cabbage, and onions.
***
History
It is presumed our predecessors discovered and started eating wild onions very early – long before farming or even writing was invented. Very likely, this humble vegetable was a staple in the prehistoric diet.
Most researchers agree the onion has been cultivated for 5000 years or more.
Since onions grew wild in various regions, they were probably consumed for thousands of years and domesticated simultaneously all over the world.
Onions grew in Chinese gardens as early as 5000 years ago and they are referenced in some of the oldest Vedic writings from India. In Egypt, onions can be traced back to 3500 B.C. There is evidence that the Sumerians were growing onions as early as 2500 B.C. One Sumerian text dated to about 2500 B.C. tells of someone plowing over the city governor's onion patch.
Many archaeologists, botanists, and food historians believe onions originated in central Asia. Other research suggests onions were first grown in Iran and West Pakistan.
My note: Predominantly dry areas and also hot weather.
Qualities of onions why onion use may have started:
Onions prevented thirst. (My note: Perhaps, this is why the use of onions picked up in dry countries like Egypt. And now, Libya where 90% of the country is desert has the highest per capita consumption of onions).
In Egypt, onions were considered to be an object of worship.
In mummies, onions have frequently been found in the pelvic regions of the body, in the thorax, flattened against the ears, and in front of the collapsed eyes.
Egyptologists believe it was because onions were known for their strong antiseptic qualities, which construed as magical, would be handy in the afterlife.
In India as early as the sixth century B.C., the famous medical treatise Charaka – Sanhita celebrates the onion as medicine – a diuretic, good for digestion, the heart, the eyes, and the joints.
Likewise, Dioscorides, a Greek physician in first century A.D., noted several medicinal uses of onions. The Greeks used onions to fortify athletes for the Olympic Games. Before competition, athletes would consume pounds of onions, drink onion juice, and rub onions on their bodies.
The Romans ate onions regularly and carried them on journeys to their provinces in England and Germany. Pliny the Elder, Roman's keen-eyed observer, wrote of Pompeii's onions and cabbages. Before he was overcome and killed by the volcano's heat and fumes, Pliny the Elder cataloged the Roman beliefs about the efficacy of the onion to cure vision, induce sleep, heal mouth sores, dog bites, toothaches, dysentery, and lumbago.
The Roman gourmet Apicius, credited with writing one of the first cookbooks (which dates to the eighth and ninth centuries A.D.), included many references to onions.
By the Middle Ages, the three main vegetables of European cuisine were beans, cabbage, and onions. In addition to serving as a food for both the poor and the wealthy, onions were prescribed to alleviate headaches, snakebites, and hair loss. They were also used as rent payments and wedding gifts.
Later, the first Pilgrims brought onions with them on the Mayflower. However, they found that strains of wild onions already grew throughout North America. Native American Indians used wild onions in a variety of ways, eating them raw or cooked, as a seasoning or as a vegetable. Such onions were also used in syrups, as poultices, as an ingredient in dyes, and even as toys. According to diaries of colonists, bulb onions were planted as soon as the Pilgrim fathers could clear the land in 1648.
https://www.onions-usa.org/all-about-onions/history-of-onions
Have people started consuming onions because of its strong anti-septic qualities?
Onion consumption started around in dry countries like Egypt. Onions prevent thirst. So, it is possible that onions were first used for their thirst quenching qualities and later for their antiseptic / antibacterial properties. These anti-septic /anti-bacterial qualities may be the cause of various therapeutic qualities of onions like cure vision problems, joint problems, induce sleep, heal mouth sores, dog bites, toothaches, dysentery, headaches, snakebites, and hair loss.
By the Middle Ages, the three main vegetables of European cuisine were beans, cabbage, and onions.
***
History
It is presumed our predecessors discovered and started eating wild onions very early – long before farming or even writing was invented. Very likely, this humble vegetable was a staple in the prehistoric diet.
Most researchers agree the onion has been cultivated for 5000 years or more.
Since onions grew wild in various regions, they were probably consumed for thousands of years and domesticated simultaneously all over the world.
Onions grew in Chinese gardens as early as 5000 years ago and they are referenced in some of the oldest Vedic writings from India. In Egypt, onions can be traced back to 3500 B.C. There is evidence that the Sumerians were growing onions as early as 2500 B.C. One Sumerian text dated to about 2500 B.C. tells of someone plowing over the city governor's onion patch.
Many archaeologists, botanists, and food historians believe onions originated in central Asia. Other research suggests onions were first grown in Iran and West Pakistan.
My note: Predominantly dry areas and also hot weather.
Qualities of onions why onion use may have started:
Onions prevented thirst. (My note: Perhaps, this is why the use of onions picked up in dry countries like Egypt. And now, Libya where 90% of the country is desert has the highest per capita consumption of onions).
In Egypt, onions were considered to be an object of worship.
In mummies, onions have frequently been found in the pelvic regions of the body, in the thorax, flattened against the ears, and in front of the collapsed eyes.
Egyptologists believe it was because onions were known for their strong antiseptic qualities, which construed as magical, would be handy in the afterlife.
In India as early as the sixth century B.C., the famous medical treatise Charaka – Sanhita celebrates the onion as medicine – a diuretic, good for digestion, the heart, the eyes, and the joints.
Likewise, Dioscorides, a Greek physician in first century A.D., noted several medicinal uses of onions. The Greeks used onions to fortify athletes for the Olympic Games. Before competition, athletes would consume pounds of onions, drink onion juice, and rub onions on their bodies.
The Romans ate onions regularly and carried them on journeys to their provinces in England and Germany. Pliny the Elder, Roman's keen-eyed observer, wrote of Pompeii's onions and cabbages. Before he was overcome and killed by the volcano's heat and fumes, Pliny the Elder cataloged the Roman beliefs about the efficacy of the onion to cure vision, induce sleep, heal mouth sores, dog bites, toothaches, dysentery, and lumbago.
The Roman gourmet Apicius, credited with writing one of the first cookbooks (which dates to the eighth and ninth centuries A.D.), included many references to onions.
By the Middle Ages, the three main vegetables of European cuisine were beans, cabbage, and onions. In addition to serving as a food for both the poor and the wealthy, onions were prescribed to alleviate headaches, snakebites, and hair loss. They were also used as rent payments and wedding gifts.
Later, the first Pilgrims brought onions with them on the Mayflower. However, they found that strains of wild onions already grew throughout North America. Native American Indians used wild onions in a variety of ways, eating them raw or cooked, as a seasoning or as a vegetable. Such onions were also used in syrups, as poultices, as an ingredient in dyes, and even as toys. According to diaries of colonists, bulb onions were planted as soon as the Pilgrim fathers could clear the land in 1648.
https://www.onions-usa.org/all-about-onions/history-of-onions
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