Onions?

In 1919, when the flu killed 40 million people, there was this Doctor that
visited the many farmers to see if he could help them combat the flu.
Many of the farmers and their family had contracted it, and many died.
The doctor came upon this one farmer, and to his surprise, everyone was very
healthy. When the doctor asked what the farmer was doing that was different,
the wife replied that she had placed an unpeeled onion in a dish in the rooms
of the home, (probably only two rooms back then). The doctor couldn't
believe it and asked if he could have one of the onions and place it under
the microscope. She gave him one and when he did this, he did find the flu
virus in the onion. It obviously absorbed the bacteria, therefore, keeping
the family healthy.

Now, I heard this story from my hairdresser in AZ. She said that several
years ago many of her employees were coming down with the flu and so were
many of her customers. The next year she placed several bowls with onions
around in her shop. To her surprise, none of her staff got sick. It must work....
Try it and see what happens. We did it last year and we never got the flu.
Now there is a P. S. to this.... I sent it to a friend in Oregon who
regularly contributes material to me on health issues. She replied with this

Most interesting thing about onions:
Thanks for the reminder. I don't know about the farmers story.... But, I do
know that I contacted pneumonia and needless to say I was very ill... I came
across an article that said to cut both ends off an onion put it into an
empty jar.....placing the jar next to the sick patient at night. It said the
onion would be black in the morning from the germs.... Sure enough it happened
just like that.... The onion was a mess, and I began to feel better.
Lots of times when we have stomach problems we don't know what to blame.
Maybe it's the onions that are to blame. Onions absorb bacteria is the
reason they are so good at preventing us from getting colds and flu's and is
the very reason we shouldn't eat an onion that has been sitting for a time
after it has been cut open!
LEFT OVER ONIONS ARE POISONOUS

I had the wonderful privilege of touring Mullins Food Products, Makers of
Mayonnaise.. Mullins is huge, and is owned by 11 brothers and sisters in the
Mullins family. My friend, Jeanne, is the CEO.
Questions about food poisoning came up, and I wanted to share what I learned
from a chemist.
The guy who gave us our tour is named Ed. He's one of the brothers Ed is a
chemistry expert and is involved in developing most of the sauce formula.
He's even developed sauce formula for McDonald's.
Keep in mind that Ed is a food chemistry whiz. During the tour, someone
asked if we really needed to worry about mayonnaise. People are always
worried that mayonnaise will spoil. Ed's answer will surprise you. Ed said
that all commercially- made Mayo is completely safe.
"It doesn't even have to be refrigerated. No harm in refrigerating it, but
it's not really necessary." He explained that the pH in mayonnaise is set at
a point that bacteria could not survive in that environment. He then talked
about the quaint essential picnic, with the bowl of potato salad sitting on
the table and how everyone blames the mayonnaise when someone gets sick.
Ed says that when food poisoning is reported, the first thing the officials
look for is when the 'victim' last ate ONIONS and where those onions came
from (in the potato salad?). Ed says it's not the mayonnaise (as long as
it's not homemade Mayo) that spoils in the outdoors. It's probably the
Onions, and if not the onions, it's the POTATOES.
He explained, onions are a huge magnet for bacteria, especially uncooked
onions. You should never plan to keep a portion of a sliced onion.. He says
it's not even safe if you put it in a zip-lock bag and put it in your
refrigerator.
It's already contaminated enough just by being cut open and out for a bit,
that it can be a danger to you (and doubly watch out for those onions you

Another thing I read in the article was that onions and garlic placed around
the room saved many from the black plague years ago. They have powerful
antibacterial, antiseptic properties.

Also, dogs should never eat onions. Their stomachs cannot metabolize onions.
Please remember it is dangerous to cut an onion and try to use it to cook
the next day, it becomes highly poisonous for even a single night and
creates toxic bacteria which may cause adverse stomach infections because of excess bile secretions and even food poisoning.

Re: Onions?

Very interesting reading. I use onions a lot, also grow them.They are very easy to grow.
My dad always used to cut an onion in half, put them on a plate in a room after using gloss paint. Said it absorbed the paint smell.

Re: Onions?

That is interesting Cate and I have heard that onions are not good for dogs, but I didn't know a lot of the other things about onions or mayonnaise. I'll have to tell my husband about saving bits of onion. He always starts one and then half wraps it and puts it back in the fridge for later - which makes everything in the fridge smell.

Re: Onions?

I found that very interesting - thanks for sharing that Cate. I also knew that onions were bad for dogs. Didn't know about left over onions though, I used to use part of an onion then wrap it in clingfilm and put it in the fridge. Won't be doing that from now on.

Re: Onions?

I usually wrap the unused part of the onion in clingfilm and keep it in the fridge, too

Thanks for the info Cate, I will be changing my ways now

Re: Onions?

Crickey ..... and there's me cutting one in half and placing on a saucer overnight with sugar to drink the next day to cure a sore throat. It works very well but I don't think I'll do that anymore. Thanks Cate.

Re: Onions?

I have seen this posted before and linked to Snopes
http://www.snopes.com/food/tainted/cutonions.asp

Re: Onions?

I wasn't sure about this when I read it, yet so many people trust onions. My friend used to cut an onion and sprinkle it with brown sugar to drink in the morning to ward of a cold and he swore by it. Yet other people say that they do infact absorb germs and smells in the air. I find all these kinds of things interesting.

I wonder where garlic got its magical powers agains vampires and evil. There must be some truth in the whole idea. The other thing of course is that mayo contains eggs which would 'go off' on a warm day outside, but when they are introduced to vinegar, salt and oil and all the preservatives in bought mayo I could believe that it is the onion and not the mayo that causes the tummy upset.

Always glad to share a bit of intereting stuff.

Re: Onions?

When my Dad had a cold, he always had a bowl of boiled onions and water from them before he went to bed. He swore they used to make him sweat the cold out during the night.

Re: Onions?

I know my mum used to be a great onion believer where colds and coughs were concerned. Later on people turned to a good curry with lots of onions of course to make you sweat.