onion
Onion is a vegetable. The oinion was one of the most popular foods in ancient Egypt (Kemet).
- botanical information
- origin
- history
- nutritional information
- Chinese herbology
- cautions and contraindications
botanical information:
Botanical name: Allium cepa
Common name: onion
French name: oignon
Onions in the Salad Garden (those are collards in the upper left corner) courtesy of Green Earth Ministries (a Christian cannabis religion) 
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origin:
Origin: Asia
history:
History: Onions and garlic were fed to 100,000 laborers (not slaves) who worked on the Great Pyramid of Cheops.
Some ancient Egyptian temples partially paid their workers with onions.
Onion was one of the ingredients mentioned in the Eber’s Papyrus. The Eber’s Papyrus (from between 1600 B.C.E. and 1550 B.C.E.), was discovered by German Egyptologist Georg Ebers in 1874 C.E. The Eber’s Papyrus is the oldest known complete medical textbook in existence. Most scholars believe that it is copy of a much earlier text, probably from around 3100 B.C.E. The Eber’s Papyrus includes information on surgery and internal medicine, including a list of more than 800 drugs.
nutritional information:
nutritional value per 100 grams:
- Calories: 28-36 calories
- Proteins: 1 gram
- Fat: trace
- Carbohydrates: 7 grams
- high in calcium
- high in folic acid
- high in potassium
- high in selenium
- high in sulfur
Chinese herbalism:
Chinese gender: yang (warm)
Chinese flavor: pungent
storage:
Storage: Onions can safely be stored for more than a week.
cautions and contraindications:
Cautions and contraindications: Onion is believed to be safe.
Toxic to animals: The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) Animal Poison Control Center has determined that onion “has been reported as having systemic effects on animals and/or intense effects on the gastrointestinal tract.” —ASPCA
