Many people are aware of the benefits of a vegetable like onion. But, despite the whole value of this vegetable, many refuse to eat it without taking a specific smell and pungent, bitter taste. This article will discuss how to mitigate onion bitterness when cooking.

Important! Vitamin C in onion loses many healing properties during frying or other heat treatment. It is most useful in its raw form or in the form of juice. However, onion juice is strictly contraindicated for people with stomach problems. You can get a vitamin charge by eating green onion feathers. They have twice as much vitamin C as their onion counterpart.

Why is onion bitter?

Onion is a vegetable with very unusual properties - it is very good for health and, depending on the method of preparation, can change its taste. The raw vegetable contains natural, highly aromatic oils that can cause aversion to pungent tastes and odors by sensitive people. It is worth noting that the vegetable does not emit a pungent odor when not sliced.

Only during grinding its structure is violated, as a result of which the enzymes leave the destroyed onion cells. Alliinase, one of them, reacts with sulfuric matter, which also separates after the destruction of the cell structure. As a result of this reaction, a gas is formed which, when reacted with water, forms sulfuric acid. When this gas substance reaches the human eyes, the acid is neutralized - and causes tears from the eyes.What to do in such a situation? First of all, do not rub your eyes, as the hands of the hostess during this action are covered with onion juice, and this will only aggravate the situation. It is best to leave the place of slicing a fragrant vegetable and ventilate the kitchen, after a while go back and cut the onion at a sufficient distance from the eyes.

How to remove the bitter taste from onions

That the onion was not bitter:

1. Before onion slicing, it is placed for a moment in boiling water, then quickly transferred to cold water, after a minute vegetables can be chopped.
2. A few minutes before slicing, put the onions in the freezer.
3. The onion is cut into four parts and for several minutes they are placed in water, well acidified with vinegar, after which they are removed and cut.

Important! Mistresses need to remember that a cut onion can be stored in the refrigerator for no more than one day, because after this period the vegetable loses useful substances and volatile.

Fighting bitterness with boiling water

Blanching is a combination of boiling water and products for a very short time (from 30 seconds to 2-3 minutes). In cooking, blanching is most often used for vegetables containing a lot of fiber, as well as for vegetables with a spicy taste - hot water removes bitterness and softens their taste. Such a vegetable is perfect for a salad of fresh vegetables, it will not be bitter and crispy.Onions are blanched very quickly. Put chopped onion rings or quarters into a colander, then lower the device into a container with boiling water for 30 seconds. Then the colander is taken out of boiling water and lowered into a container with cold water. After that, the sharp taste of the onion softens, and does not bite.

Marinating method

So that the raw onion is not too sharp, it is pickled. The components of the marinade “pull” bitterness from the onion slices.

Did you know? Onions contain vitamin C, vitamins of groups B, E, H, PP and K, as well as: zinc, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium and sodium. Sulphides or essential oils give the vegetable a characteristic onion flavor. Vitamin C strengthens the human immune system, and is an antioxidant that fights an excess of free radicals in the body that cause aging and the formation of cancer.

You can pickle a vegetable in several ways:

1. With vinegar. Pour the chopped rings with water, add sugar and vinegar there, mix and leave for 3-4 hours for marinating. After this time, the marinade merges, and onion rings, without rinsing with water, are used for their intended purpose.
2. No vinegar. Onion slices are soaked in lemon juice when you need to quickly remove the specific bitterness. Vegetables are left in this kind of marinade for 30 minutes to soak. The vegetable will quickly leave its spiciness in sour juice, and it can be added to the salad or used as a "coat" for herring. Before using for cooking, pickled slices are filtered from lemon juice.

Deep-Fried

Deep fat - a mixture of melted natural fat (butter) with any vegetable oil. Typically, a deep fat fryer is used in cooking, made up of a ratio of ingredients: 1: 1. The deep fat is heated to a hot state, and then fry vegetables, fish or meat in it. As a deep fat fryer, they take a frying pan or a thick-walled pan with high sides, since during heating, the frying mixture can foam and increase in volume.

Did you know? The bulb and cloves of garlic have a strong bactericidal effect, due to which they can act as a natural antibiotic. These vegetables can even defeat Staphylococcus aureus, they also help treat infectious diseases, stimulate wound healing. Compresses saturated with fresh onion juice are useful in the fight against boils, abscesses, wounds and acne.

Under the influence of heat, onion wedges lose their sharpness, therefore, the most neutral way to neutralize bitterness is passivation. This is deep-frying, in which the vegetable softens to transparency, but does not become rosy. Further frying will force him to acquire new flavors, as this process is accompanied by caramelization of starch.

When cooking fried onions, it should be sweetened - this technique will enhance the taste of the dish. If fried onions are used as the main seasoning of a dish or to decorate it (for example, boiled potatoes or dumplings), frying is done in pure butter. Nothing emphasizes the taste of fried onions like natural, fresh butter.And the last metamorphosis - from fried onions to stewed ones: add a little white wine, broth or vinegar to the fried wedges, in a minute the dish will be ready. This culinary technique brilliantly accentuates the taste of this healthy vegetable.

Useful Tips

To make it easier to digest onions, use the following tricks:

1. Before adding the raw vegetable to the salad, sprinkle it with salt, leave it for a few minutes, then rinse and cut. You can also salt the sliced ​​slices right in the bowl in which the vegetable salad is prepared.
2. A good assimilation of fried onions contributes to the addition of a small amount of water or white wine to the dish.

Did you know? Onions have a diuretic effect, therefore it is recommended for use by people with urinary tract infections and with urination disorders. It also lowers blood pressure and the level of "bad" cholesterol in the body. And due to its fiber content, it helps to eliminate constipation. Caustic vegetables should not be consumed by people with serious diseases of the stomach, liver or kidneys.

Getting rid of onion smell:

1. To get rid of the onion (garlic) hand odor, you need to add a teaspoon of ground natural coffee to a good quality soap and wash your hands with this mixture.
2. The unpleasant onion smell from the mouth, which most often remains after eating a raw vegetable, is eliminated after brushing your teeth, and subsequent chewing of dried cloves (seasoning).
3. The persistent onion smell left on the cutting board or in the dishwasher can be removed with chopped carrots. To do this, it is enough to wipe the surface with a specific aroma on the inside of the root crop.

Sweet Onion Varieties

Varieties of onions with a mild flavor without bitterness are often called sweet. As a rule, they have light husks and white, juicy and tender flesh. There are quite a lot of these sweet onions on the market, so you can choose the most delicious varieties.

Varieties of sweet onions:

• Orizaba F1 - a large, round vegetable with a snow-white husk and pulp, delicate and sweet in taste;
• Sterling F1 - round, large, snow-white inside and outside, sweet and soft taste;
• Alibaba - spherical, white, with a mild flavor, although slightly sharper than the previous varieties;
• Ailsa Craig - large onions with dense white flesh and golden scales, soft and sweet taste.

If you know special culinary techniques to mitigate the pungent taste and pungent odor of an onion, you can enrich many dishes with a wonderful vegetable, and the body with vitamins and minerals.