Does cooking onions reduce acidity?

In this article, we answered the following question: Does cooking onions reduce acidity? We teach you the best trick to reduce onion acidity and talk about the main varieties of onions. 

Does cooking onions reduce acidity?

Cooking onions will reduce some of its acidity, but it is not the most successful method. Onion is one of the most used vegetables in the kitchen. Its slightly sweet and spicy flavor makes it an essential ingredient in sauces of all kinds, salads, stews, purees, soups, stews, roasts, and other culinary preparations. 

Onion juices are high in sulfur and sulfur elements. For this reason, when they come into contact with our mucous membranes -when we smell or taste them-, our respiratory and tear ducts become irritated, and some people get heartburn. 

Well, softening the flavor of the onion is easy and does not require a long time, so if you want to prepare a salad in which there is no lack of onion and have guarantees that our interlocutors will not perceive what we have eaten, follow the following advice, the kitchen trick to soften the onion, 

Our trick to soften the onion is to put it, once peeled and julienned (or however you want to present it in the salad), in a bowl with cold water. It rests while we prepare the rest of the salad ingredients, it can take about 20 minutes or half an hour, then we rinse it and drain it well, and that’s it.

In this way, the onion loses part of its flavor, but not completely (although it loses more as time passes), and that is what we want because in addition to taking advantage of its nutritional virtues we like it to add its flavor to the dish, and also its texture, for that we incorporate it.

Other more aggressive systems for the bulb are adding salt and/or vinegar to the water, after standing it is rinsed and drained well to remove the spicy component. There are even those who speed up the process by pouring hot water over it, but in this way, the texture of the onion is also changed, and it is not what you usually look for in a salad.

It is possible that among you there are those who soften the flavor of the onions by letting them rest in water with lemon juice, or who prefer to do it in milk, it is also a good method. 

Which do you prefer? If so far you have not used any of these tricks to soften the onion, now you can choose the one that best suits you, and if you try different systems to see which one works best for you, do it with the same onion, since they do not all bite the same.

Other FAQs about Onions which you may be interested in.

How do you cut onions for spaghetti sauce?

Do Italians put onions in sauce?

Common tricks to reduce the acidity of onions

The rest of the tricks that can be heard – such as marinating it with salt or vinegar and then washing it off- are a way of unnecessarily mistreating the onion, which in addition to its flavor will lose its texture.

For those who like paraphernalia, there are those who use swimming or diving goggles to peel and cut the onion; This, besides being uncomfortable, will be funny for a photo, but little else. 

The same can be said of those who think that with an onion cut on the head, bad odors are driven away. These and other “tricks” can be classified as the dark side of onion cutters. As anecdotes they are good; as real and practical solutions, nothing at all.

The main varieties of onion (and their uses)

White onion. Widely used in most sauces, creams, soups, stir-fries … There is a variety called “common”, which is a bit spicy and strong in flavor, and another called “sweet”, which is somewhat milder in flavor and with a sweet touch. It is white in color and can have a slightly elongated or completely round shape.

Red onion. It has a characteristic reddish color, even purple. Its shape is flattened and round and has a sweet and smooth flavor. It is widely used in sauces, such as Biscay sauce, tomato sauces, and squid black sauce.

Fresh chives. It is the onion collected a little before becoming an adult. Fine, fresh flavor, widely used in salads, it can be eaten up to part of the stem.

French onion. This slightly flattened variety of small onion has a mild, sweet flavor. It is used in garnishes and cooking using the glaze method.

Shallot. It is shaped like a large garlic clove, the surface is purple and its interior slightly whitish. It is widely used in French cuisine as a garnish, cooked at a low temperature. With a mild flavor, it is also known as shallots.

Normally we choose spring onions or chives to make salads, since they are softer than dry onions and often sweeter, even so, there are times that this does not happen, there are chives that are very hot or have a strong flavor that is repeated later. 

It may also be the case that you want to use dried onions to make salads or to serve raw in any other type of culinary preparation, and in this case, it is necessary to soften their flavor.

Conclusions

In this article, we answered the following question: Does cooking onions reduce acidity? We taught you the best trick to reduce onion acidity and talk about the main varieties of onions. 

In reducing onion acidity your best ally is water! Make sure you follow our tips and you’ll never have issues with onion acidity ever again.

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