Spice Category: Onions

“Banish the onion from the kitchen and the pleasure flies with it. Its presence lends color and enchantment to the most modest dish; its absence reduces the rarest delicacy to hopeless insipidity, and dinner to despair.” Elizabeth Robbins Pennell, American columnist

Onions show up in recipes from every cuisine. From a delicate hint of flavor in a scallion garnish to a rich underpinning in a beef stock, onions give crucial flavor to any dish they're in. For many cooks, most good recipes start with a handful of chopped onions sauteed on oil, and they are the only vegetable common in recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner (though seldom in desserts!).

Fresh onions can rot in your pantry, and make you cry when cut. Our dried onions are an easy substitute in many recipes. From dips to meatloaf, we love the flavor. To trick picky eaters, use granulated onion in place of fresh - no tell-tale textures! Toasted dried onion is good enough to snack on straight from the jar, and is a healthy alternative for topping casseroles.

Onion, White

I don't think a really good pie can be made without a dozen or so children peeking over your shoulder as you stoop to look in on it every little while.

John Gould