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April 5, 2008

Onions, onions...onions!

In my previous post I have mentioned, that I am an onion freak, despite the fact that I hate cooked onions. I always grate them when I need it in a dish. However I am also obsessed with onions. I love uncooked onions. I wanted to post about onion so here I go! Yeah I know I wrote already much too often the word O N I O N, but I can not get enough of onions. I always have at least 5 kinds of onions in my pantry. In this post I would like to write about onion and about my favourite kind of onion: the Roscoff onion - Rosé de Roscoff. I have read somewhere that if you want to make the real french onion soup you should use this type. Well I have never eaten and cooked onion soup, but one day I will, despite that I do not like them cooked. So anyway Roscoff onions come from Roscoff, a commune in the arrondissement of Morlaix in the Finistère département, in France's Bretagne région. Because of that only the onions that come from there may be called Roscoff. For me Rosé the Roscoff is the Prosciutto di Parma in the family of the onions. This onion even has its own feast in August. This is something I definitely want to visit one day. On the photo below next to the red onion you can see the Roscoff onion. It tastes fresh and sweet. I love it! It is never bitter or hot. Roscoff is the perfect onion.
In my pantry you gonna find white, red, shallot, yellow, leek and spring onions and of course Roscoff. While browsing I discovered brown onions which I have not seen yet, hope to meet them one day.
So now some historical stuff from wikipedia: In Caananite Bronze Age settlements, traces of onion remains were found dating back to 5000 BC. However, it is not clear if these were cultivated onions. Archaeological and literary evidence such as the Book of Numbers 11:5 suggests cultivation probably took place around two thousand years later in ancient Egypt, at the same time that leeks and garlic were cultivated. The Ancient Egyptians worshipped it, believing that its spherical shape and concentric rings symbolized eternal life. Onions were even used in Egyptian burials as evidenced by onion traces being found in the eye sockets of Ramesses IV. They believed that if buried with the dead, the strong scent of onions would bring breath back to the dead. In ancient Greece, athletes ate large quantities of onion because it was believed that it would lighten the balance of blood. Roman gladiators were rubbed down with onion to firm up their muscles. In the Middle Ages onions were such an important food that people would pay for their rent with onions and even give them as gifts. The onion was introduced to North America by Christopher Columbus on his 1492 expedition to Haiti.If you wanna know more about...well about onions, click here.

2 comments:

Angela said...

I too love onions, cooked and raw. I am going to grow some for the first time this year, fingers crossed! Monty Don said on Friday night that onions will be expensive this year as last year was the worst crop on record..oh no!

chriesi said...

Oh that is great! You have got my fingers crossed for your onions!

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