How to remove bitterness from onions
It's hard to find a kitchen that doesn't use onions. It gives the dishes an appetizing aroma and special taste. But it also happens that a bitter onion can ruin everything, so every housewife must know how to remove bitterness from onions or which of its varieties is the sweetest.
How to remove bitterness from onions
How to get rid of bitterness
There are several ways by which you can remove bitterness from onions or green onions. When choosing one of them, one should take into account the purpose for which it is planned to use the onion, because after one or another processing it can acquire sourness, absorb the taste of the marinade. Perhaps it is necessary to preserve only its taste, without strangers?
Maintaining neutrality
How to remove the bitterness from onions for salad, so as to leave only the onion properties and not spoil the dish? It's very simple, choose a method:
- with cold water;
- hot;
- in the microwave.
The pre-cleaned "turnip" is cut or chopped as required by the recipe, then it is enough to pour boiling water over it (the main thing is to be careful) and immediately put it under cold water, you can also leave it in hot water for a couple of minutes.
Now the onion is laid out in a colander and washed with cool water. Fast, convenient, inexpensive, and as a result, no one will refuse such food, even the vicious opponents of onions.
You can also apply the method with cold water: cover the chopped onion with 1 tbsp. l. salt (with a slide, if there is a lot of onions), add cold water to it (so that it is completely covered). After 15 minutes, rinse the onion from salt and use it further according to the recipe.
You can try the microwave method: heat the chopped onion for 10 seconds (medium power).
Marinades
Usually, onions placed in an acidic environment give off some of their pungency, acquiring a mild flavor. They offer a couple of uncomplicated marinades, with the help of which onion bitterness is easily eliminated.
After the onion is cut, put it in a deep container, add a couple of pinches of sugar, a pinch of salt, citric acid (literally at the tip of a knife) or 1 tbsp. l. lemon juice, pour a small amount of water at room temperature and stir. The marinating time is 15 minutes.
Then you should rinse the onion with boiled cool water. It turns out to be tender and slightly sweet.
If the recipe allows, you can first add seasonings, pepper (black or red) to the marinade.
You can make it even easier: mix water (not boiling water) and vinegar 9% in equal amounts, soak the chopped onion in vinegar marinade for 10-15 minutes and be sure to rinse with water.
How to deal with green onions
We figured out how to remove bitterness from onions, but what to do if greens are bitter?
The green feathers should be crumbled and then gently kneaded. For this, a crush for mashed potatoes or spices is useful, but you can also use your hands, after which you need to pour the onion with melted butter (quite a bit).If you plan to put a vegetable in a soup or potatoes, then you can already use it, but it is better to rinse it for a salad.
There is also a method where it is recommended to pour boiling water over the feathers, but this will deprive the product of the aroma and most of the vitamin C.
Why onions are bitter
Now let's figure out why onions are bitter and which variety is sweeter.
This, by the way, is inextricably linked with its beneficial properties. The fact is that the plant contains phytocides, volatile substances that begin to "become active" during peeling and chopping onions.
In addition, onion phytocides also contain essential oils with a high content of sulfides - compounds of metals and sulfur. That same sulfur is responsible for all the bitterness and for our tears while cutting turnips.
However, these properties of onions, light bitterness, pungency, aroma made it so indispensable in cooking, and because of phytocides, it is so useful, because they are designed to destroy harmful microorganisms (including Koch's stick, diphtheria bacillus, etc.) ...
The bitterness is also influenced by the time of harvest. So, in autumn, essential oils in a vegetable reach their maximum concentration, and it becomes less sweet than in summer.
What affects bitterness
It is important to keep in mind that the issue is not always about the variety. The same seed, grown under different conditions, turns into more or less bitter onions.
What determines the taste of onions?
Onion flavor is influenced by the following factors:
- fertilizers;
- watering;
- grade.
If everything is clear with the latter, you need to understand the characteristics of the onion variety (sharp, semi-sharp, sweet), then the first 2 factors should be analyzed in more detail.
Reducing the sharpness of the onion can be achieved by applying phosphorus fertilizer to the garden bed. You just need to increase the recommended dose of superphosphate by about one and a half times. Plus the addition of trace elements will make the taste more balanced.
The second factor is watering. If there is not enough moisture in the soil, more dry matter will accumulate in the onion turnip, so if there is a drought, you need to water it yourself at least once every 6-7 days.
Sweet varieties
Finally, we will briefly recall which varieties of onions are sweet and in which they are not so hot. Maybe then you won't have to look for tips on how to remove bitterness from onions.
The more sugar in the onion, the better it is for salads, since it is less pungent and bitter. Also, oblong or larger bulbs have a less harsh taste, while flat ones, on the contrary, have bitterness.
Delicate chives are suitable exclusively for fresh consumption: they are added to salad, they are used to decorate other dishes.
The sweetest varieties are called Globo (elliptical, yellow), Exibishen (a favorite for all salad lovers) and all red onions. These are the Crimson Ball, Campillo, Braunschweig, Retro, Black Prince, Yukont, Yalta, etc.
Red onions are not always sweet, sometimes they also have a pleasant bitterness, which does not interfere at all.