This week you will find in your shares:
Wed. August 19 and Sat. 22
- Tomatoes
- Cherry Tomatoes
- Potato
- Dill
- Onions
Recipe Ideas
Crunchy Potatoes with Dill and Onion -
Tomato and Dill w/ Couscous -
Vegetable Spotlight
Onion The onion is a lilly, sharing the same family with asparagus and the tulip. It belongs to the genus Allium. Other well know alliums include leeks, shallots, scallions and garlic. The french writer Dumay says “..the onion offers always, and especially in winter, a little of the springtime of the soil, preserved in it’s bulb.” I’d have to agree, here in Virginia onions are some the of earliest planted crops, taking much of the season to mature and then dry.
The origin of the onion remains a mystery, it way already being cultivated by prehistoric men when they were still in the collecting stage which preceded the pastoral and agricultural sages, then roots and bulbs were easy to gather, and the onion perhaps easier than most, since it gave itself away by its smell. Most authorities put it somewhere in Asia, but this is sometimes disputed. The Code of Hammurabi (ancient Mesopotamia), stipulates that the needy shall receive a monthly ration of bread and onions. Onions were a staple for the poor, but also enjoyed by royalty. The king of Ur, Ur-Nammu(2100BC) had onions growing in his gardens. The ancient Egyptians were great onion eaters.
During the middle ages onions were a favorite food of the common people. They also appear in French feudal deeds more frequently than any other vegetable except garlic. There were onions native to the North American continent, as witnessed by Spanish explorers, the onions we mainly eat today are from Eurasian decent.
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