Heirloom Foods – Organic Red Onion, 1kg

Size

1kg

Ingredients

Organic Red Onions

• Organically grown
• Grown following biodynamic farming principles
• Locally grown
• No GMOs
• No synthetic pesticides
• No synthetic herbicides
• No synthetic fertilisers
• No preservatives

Directions to Use

Peel away the dry outer skin and trim as required. Use Red Onions raw in salads, sandwiches, wraps, salsas and relishes, where their colour and crisp texture can be particularly appealing. Thinly sliced onions are also excellent for quick pickling. For a softer and sweeter flavour, sauté, roast, grill or slowly caramelise them. Add them to soups, stews, curries, sauces, pizzas and roasted vegetable dishes.

What Makes Red Onions Red?

The beautiful red, purple and burgundy colours of red onions come largely from anthocyanins, naturally occurring pigments belonging to the flavonoid family.

These are part of the same broad group of pigments responsible for the colours of foods such as purple potatoes, raspberries, blueberries, red cabbage and purple sweet potatoes.

Red onions also contain quercetin, another flavonoid that occurs naturally in onions and various fruits and vegetables. Both quercetin and anthocyanins have attracted scientific interest because of their antioxidant and other biological properties.

Red Onion vs Brown Onion – What’s the Difference?

Red and brown onions are both forms of Allium cepa, but different cultivars have been selected for differences in colour, flavour, pungency, sweetness, storage qualities and culinary use.

Red onions have distinctive red-purple outer layers and are often chosen for salads, sandwiches, salsas and pickles because their colour remains visually appealing when served raw.

Brown onions usually have golden-brown papery skins and are classic all-purpose cooking onions. Their strong raw flavour softens considerably with cooking, making them particularly useful for soups, stews, curries and sauces.

Why Do Onions Make Us Cry?

Cutting an onion damages its cells and allows previously separated enzymes and sulfur-containing compounds to interact. This produces volatile compounds, including a lachrymatory factor, which reaches the eyes and stimulates the sensory nerves. Your eyes respond by producing tears to dilute and wash away the irritant.

Interestingly, the same sulfur chemistry that makes raw onions so pungent changes substantially during cooking. As onions heat, their sharpness gradually decreases while other flavour reactions create the mellow, savoury and increasingly sweet flavours associated with cooked and caramelised onions.

Did You Know?

An onion bulb isn’t a root

Although onions grow partly underground and are commonly grouped with root vegetables in the kitchen, the onion we eat is actually a bulb. Cut an onion vertically and its layered structure becomes easy to see. The fleshy layers are modified leaf bases that store nutrients for the plant.

The true roots grow from the flat basal plate at the bottom of the bulb.

Red onions change colour with acidity

Anthocyanins are sensitive to pH, which means their colour can change depending on the surrounding acidity.

This is why adding vinegar or lemon juice to sliced red onions can help produce the vivid pink-red colour seen in quick-pickled onions. It’s the same fascinating pigment chemistry we see when preparing red cabbage.