Jeannine English, age 10, of Lynn, Mass., for her question:
WHY DOES AN ONION MAKE ME CRY?
Onions are famous for their strong taste and odor. The odor is caused by a slightly stimulating oil and this oil very easily forms a vapor. The vapor can readily escape into the air when onions are peeled or cut and it often affects some of the nerves in the nose that are connected with the eyes. The vapor can then make tears flow and, voila, you are crying.
Onions belong to the amaryllis family. They were first grown in Mongolia and didn't come to the United States and Canada until the mid 1700s.
California, Idaho, Michigan, New York, Oregon and Texas today are the nation's leading onion growing states.
Onions are also grown in most of the other states and in Canadian provinces as well as in Mexico, Italy and Spain.
The onion plant is a biennial, which means it's a plant that lives 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 round clusters. The bulbs are enclosed in thin papery coverings that are made up of dried outer leaves.
Only a few shallow roots grow from the onion plant.
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 onions 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 cooked before being eaten.
The foreign onions are mostly Spanish and Bermuda onions. These large, mild onions are generally eaten uncooked.
Onions taste good but they are not particularly high in vitamins nor in energy food.
Most of the onions that you buy 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 large bulbs.
Onions that have lost their ability to make seeds are raised from bulbs and are grown as multiplier onions. Some types produce tiny bulbs on their seed stalks that are called aerial sets.
Onion seeds may be sown in the field or they may be planted in flats in greenhouses. Onions need a very moist soil for good growth.
The onion thrips is one of the worst insects that attack onions. They can be checked by spraying seedlings with diazinon or malathion.
Cooking onions takes away some food value, but it makes them more digestible and tends to remove their strong odor.