Red Onion

A trick I use to add wonderful flavor to many of my favorite savory dishes is to simply add some onion.  This week’s ingredient is all about the red onion also known as the purple onion.  This is one of those vegetables that my kitchen seems incomplete without!  I love the flavor an onion can instantly give to a dish! To me the red onion has this mild hint of sweetness and good flavor that I love, the kids on the other hand… not so much.  But I want them to have it regardless, so to help everyone out when serving with kids I just finely chop them up and blend them in so they are not so obvious, wink wink!

Description

Red onions fall into the spring-summer variety category of the onion family.  They are firm with a mild scent with an even-color sealed in a thin, paper like skin that you remove completely before using. The red onion is a vegetable that comes from the ground like the white onions, spring onions and red spring onions. 


Uses


Red onions can be used in many ways from salads and sandwiches to hamburgers and shish-kebabs, in dips, stews, and even soups, as well as in many main dishes.  After you peel the thin skin the can be eaten raw or cooked.   Whether they are grilled, sautéed, baked, broiled or even micro waved we all should try to include red onions in our meals!

Benefit

When it comes to health benefit advantages in red onions, the things you should know are that they are low in saturated fat, have zero cholesterol and low sodium. They're a good source of dietary fiber, vitamin B6, folate, potassium and manganese, not to mention an excellent source of vitamin C.

The sulfur compound that causes the tear jerker effect you have probably encountered from the red onion has been said to reduce the risk of heart disease and other cancers.  Red onions have flavonoids which are good to clean up oxidative damage that can lead to cancer heart disease and certain tumors.  And this may come as a surprise but red onions help to maintain healthy bones! 

What are you waiting for, try this crab dip with tang for a refreshing way to get red onions in your diet today!