ONION ONIONS, La’, la’, la, I Love onions
The title may be a song however, onions have a much greater influence than a song. Onions seem to be a part of every culture and definitely are an important food staple, medicinal aide, and a number of other avails.
At first, I thought onions would be a boring topic to write about but while researching, I found plenty of information. The biggest hit I found was in music, and that got me really interested. The song “I Love Onions,” recorded by folk singer Susan Christine in 1966, is about a girl not liking snails, or toads, or frogs, but loves onions.
While listening to this song, I remembered hearing it about 1976 on a popular rock station in Texas played as a daily joke. Another popular onion song is “Green Onions” that actually never says a thing about onions because it is an instrumental. “Green Onions” was first recorded by Booker T. Jones in 1962, and later recorded by the Blues Brothers. Even and earlier mention of onions was used in a French marching song, “Chanson de Mignon,” adopted by Napoleons Imperial Guard in 1800. It was said that men where rubbing onions on their bread and Napoleon asked, “what are you doing to the bread?” thus leading to the regular marching chant.
Onions are first found in print in the Holy Bible in Numbers 11:5 when the Israelites where remembering eating well in Egypt. Onions are also found in the cookbook of Greek culinary master “Apicius,” dated eighth and ninth A.D. More to date, onions appear in almost every ethnic cookbook.
Onions have expounding medicinal function. They are used to treat diabetes, inflammation, digestion, arthritis, memory, and a long list of other ailments. One study said that an onion slice placed on the bottom of the foot and then placed in a sock while sleeping will aid in removing toxins from the body. While onions are known to ward off cancer, bacteria, fungus, they are also mythically tied to warding off vampires.
Little fuss is made about growing or procuring onions in Oklahoma in current years but they were extremely important in earlier times. In early statehood, onions were practically a staple during winter months. The onions had a long shelf life and farm workers had ready access to them. Farm worker kitchen bosses would often have little more than onions and flour to throw together a soup or type of fry bread. Early to mid-nineteenth century around Indianola Okla. Farmers raised tons of onions. Onion graders and harvesters came from miles away. During WWII, German prisoners were also used to help with the harvest.
In some local art galleries, onions are often the object of an art piece and used to produce pigments for paints and fabric dyes. One secret that one BBQ masters implements is using onions to clean the grills on his BBQ pit as well as season the smoke crusted walls inside the pit.
During the depression years, the invention of the famous Oklahoma Onion Burger was birthed. Cooks would often use onions to make a burger seem larger and more sustaining. The onions were sliced and grilled alongside of a beef patty then smashed into the meat making the present day culinary crave “The Oklahoma Onion Burger.”
My grandma lived during the Oklahoma oil boom and often shared her onion story. She always loved to say, “during the oilfield days your grandpa `Stew’s’ ob required us to move a lot, I cleaned out 33 refrigerators and planted onions around the foundation of 33 rent houses for somebody else, ‘cause we always moved before the onions got ready.” She also said, “you would think someone would have planted some onions before we moved into at least one of those houses so we could eat some.”
According to several Marshall County gardeners and farmers, February is a good month to plant onions. Many varieties are available at our local garden centers and even grocery stores. Generally, they are white, red, or yellow and their name seems to have much to do with when they are harvested, type of fertilizer, and ethnic wordiness. Late February and early March in Marshall County will reveal onions popping up in freshly planted garden plots, squared offbeds, raised beds, and all types of pots. Onions are easy to grow and really only require three basic factors-soil, (any type in our area), sunlight, and meager water — green thumb not required. If growing your own doesn’t interest you, they can be readily found in many of the county’s grocery stores, convenience stores, agriculture stores, veggie markets, or a neighbor’s garden.
Whether you plan on growing your own, have a medical issue, or some off the wall use, I hope you will do more than listen to songs about onions as they are something great to get into. After all onions have definitely impacted history and the onions in MC are a part of the 1200 varieties and approximate 6.75 billion pounds of onions the U.S. produces yearly according to the USDA.