February 22, 2022
Using Onions To Heal Gunshot Wounds | The Fantastic History Of Food with Nick Charlie Key
- Check out The Fantastic History Of Food Podcast Episode Page
Key Takeaways
- The onions are the most “emotional” of all vegetables due to the chemical irritant syn-propanethial S-oxide
- “If we removed all the recipes that included onions, we would probably wipe out half of the dishes on earth.” – Nick Charlie Key
- In ancient Egypt, onions were the object of worship due to their many layers
- The layers represented heaven, hell, earth, and eternal life
- In the ancient Greek Olympics, onions seem to have been used as a form of doping
- Athletes ate large quantities of onions to increase their strength and courage
- In the American Civil War, onions were routinely used to treat solider’s gunshot wounds
- They were also used as a protection against typhus fever and dysentery (a type of gastroenteritis) – a soldier’s worst nightmare
- Nutritional data backs up many of these practices:
- Vitamin C strengthens our immune system
- Selenium stimulates the immune system to function optimally
- Onions have anti-inflammatory qualities (they help slow down oxidative damage to cells and protect against heart disease)
- Bermuda was once known as the world’s foremost onion producing region
- “Bermuda onion was not like the generic onions we know today, they were, in fact, sweet enough to eat raw.” – Nick Charlie Key
Intro
- “Strange, but true stories from history that in some way involve food.” – Nick Charlie Key
- In this episode, Nick Charlie Key explores the history and origins of one of nature’s most versatile and “emotional” vegetables – onions. Learn about the meaning of onions in our mythology, and why athletes used onion juice to prepare for the ancient Olympics
- Host: Nick Charlie Key (@nickcharliekey)
The Most “Emotional” of All Vegetables
- The onions are the most “emotional” of all vegetables due to the chemical irritant syn-propanethial S-oxide
- They have been a part of our diets for over 5000 years, and are the basis of many cuisines worldwide
- Possibly nature’s most versatile product; they add flavor to food, but they also have substantial medicinal qualities
- Archeologists, botanists, and food historians inform us that onions first originated somewhere in Central Asia
- Alternative research points to the Middle East: Iran and West Pakistan
- They were used long before the development of farming and agriculture
- One of the first crops to be domesticated and farmed on a large scale
- When the first European settlers came to the Americas, onions were one of the few crops they brought with them
- This is because they are easy to grow (they thrive in a variety of different soils) and can grow in many climates
- They are also hardy, less perishable, and can be transported long distances without spoiling
- “If we removed all the recipes that included onions, we would probably wipe out half of the dishes on earth.” – Nick Charlie Key
Onion History and Medicinal Qualities
- Western “Mono” tribe origin story
- A group of six wives went to gather food and snacked on some wild onions
- When they returned home, their husbands were horrified by their breath and told them to leave
- The men began to miss their wives and went out to look for them but it was too late
- The women wandered off into the sky to enjoy their onions in peace
- They became the six-star cluster, known as the Pleiades
- In ancient Egypt, onions were the object of worship due to their many layers
- The layers represented heaven, hell, earth, and eternal life
- Ramesses IV, king of Egypt was buried with onions in his eye sockets
- Chinese also believed the onions had a strong link to the afterlife
- Onions were believed to have magical properties that could repel evil spirits
- They would eat large amounts of onion when they got sick
- In the ancient Greek Olympics, onions seem to have been used as a form of doping
- Athletes ate large quantities of onions to increase their strength and courage
- They used them as a thirst quencher and body fortifier
- “Onion juice seemed to function as an ancient Greek equivalent to Red Bull.” – Nick Charlie Key
- They would also massage their bodies with onions to toughen up their skins
- Nutritional data backs up many of these practices;
- Vitamin C strengthens our immune system
- Selenium stimulates the immune system to function optimally
- This makes sense because onions do have anti-inflammatory qualities (they help slow down oxidative damage to cells and protect against heart disease)
Using Onions to Heal Gunshot Wounds
- In the American Civil War, onions were routinely used to treat solider’s gunshot wounds
- They became an important part of the battlefield treatment regime “…when a supply of onions was running low, general Ulysses S. Grant sent an angry letter to the war department at Washington saying simply: ‘I will not move my troops without onions’.” – Nick Charlie
- Onions and garlic were used in both World Wars I and II for their medicinal properties
- Garlic juice prevents streptococcus (the bacteria that causes pneumonia and scarlet fever) and staphylococcus (which can cause vomiting and diarrhea)
- It can also be used as a protection against typhus fever and dysentery (a type of gastroenteritis) – a soldier’s worst nightmare
Bermuda Onions and “Onion Men”
- Bermuda was once known as the world’s foremost onion producing region
- It was nicknamed the “onion patch”
- The seamen and merchants from Bermuda were known as the “onion men”
- By 1844, Bermuda was growing approximately 350,000 pounds of onion per year (almost everything was for foreign export)
- In 1887, Mark Twain visited Bermuda and wrote about onions as absolute perfection
- What made the Bermuda onion more desirable than other onions?
- “Bermuda onion was not like the generic onions we know today, they were, in fact, sweet enough to eat raw.” – Nick Charlie Key
- They were served as snacks on ships, there was no need to fry them first
- The US (their biggest importer) slapped a hefty import tax on foreign onions and this led to the death of Bermuda’s onion trade
- By the end of World War I, the Texan onion trade was booming. One Texan farming community even renamed their town to Bermuda, Texas to sell their onions as Bermuda onions
