Laura Wells, age 8, of E1 Paso, Texas, for her questin:
WHY DOES AN ONION MAKE YOU CRY?
Onions are famous for their strong taste and odor. The odor is due to a mildly stimulating oil and this oil readily forms a vapor. The vapor can easily escape into the air when onions are peeled or cut. It affects nerves in the nose connected with the eyes, and it makes tears flow.
Onions belong to the amaryllis family. They were first grown in Mongolia and weren't introduced into the United States and Canada until the mid 1700s.
Today the leading onion growing states include California, Idaho, Michigan, New York, Oregon and Texas.
Onions are also grown in many other states and in Canadian provinces, Mexico, Italy and Spain.
The onion plant is a biennial, which means that a plant lives for two years. The upper part of the plant is a set of leaves growing inside each other. The lower parts of the leaves become very thick.
The flowers of the onion plant are small and white and they grow in rounded clusters. The bulbs are enclosed in thin papery coverings made up of dried outer leaves.
The onion plant has only a few shallow roots.
There are many different kinds of onions and they grow in many different sizes, colors and shapes. Onion growers classify them as American onions, which are strong, and foreign onions, which are mild.
The strong type includes the Yellow Globe types and the flatter Ebenezer type. The home gardener can grow these from sets, or small onions that have not completed their growth.
The strong onions keep well and they are usually eaten cooked.
The foreign onions are mostly Spanish and Bermuda onions. These large, mild onions are generally eaten uncooked.
Most onions that are sold in markets are raised from seeds. But home garden onions are usually raised from sets. Both sets and seeds are used to produce scallions, a popular name for young onions that are harvested before they have developed bulbs.
Onions that have lost their ability to make seeds are raised from bulbs and are known as multiplier onions. Some types produce tiny bulbs, called aerial sets, on their seed stalks.
Seeds may be sown in the field or in greenhouses. Onions need a very moist soil for good growth.
The onion thrips is one of the worst insects that attack onions. it can be checked by spraying seedlings with diazionon or malathion. The onion is not particularly high in vitamins or in energy food. Cooking onions takes away some food value, but it makes them more digestible and tends to remove their odor.
Onions are also pickled.