THE VALUABLE ONION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23883, 10 August 1939, Page 18

THE VALUABLE ONION

Have you ever been tempted to despise the homely onion as rather a vulgar vegetable? It is one of the most valuable forms of vegetable food we have, and its health-giving properties are almost incalculable. No wonder the peasant thrives on his mid-day meal of bread and cheese and an onion! Failing anv other vegetable, the onion alone can' supply the indispensable autoscorbutic vitamin. This has been found at sea. Its sulphur content is high, and it is a great blood-cleanser, cleaning a muddy or obstinately pimply complexion as nothing else will especially if eaten raw. For a cold, try the old-fashioned remedy of a boiled onion at night. For a bee sting, apply freshly-cut raw onion to draw out the poison. One word of warning, however! Never leave Half an onion "for another day" exposed to the air, for onions readily absorb germs and impurities of every sort; in fact, they have actually been found at times to have prevented the spread ol such diseases as smallpox In a house by absorbing the infection into themselves.