Question about Onion

[BakerAunt]

I have mentioned that my husband is sensitive to onion, which causes lower GI distress for him. Cooking the onion or sauteing it does not help. However, he is fine if I use dehydrated onion, which I rehydrate, or onion powder (my new favorite is Penzey's Roasted Onion Powder). Note: he also does fine with green onions.

I am wondering if the kind of heat involved in dehydrating onion and making onion powder removes a substance that would otherwise cause him distress. Perhaps it is a substance that exists in the liquid that is removed?

I have done some googling for an answer, but I am having difficulty formulating the question in a form that Google understands.

Spread the word

      

  

  

[Mike Nolan]

Onions are high in sulfur. When you cut them, their exposure to air can produce sulfuric acid, which is why cutting onions irritates your eyes.

It may be that dehydrating them or turning them into a powder reduces the amount of sulfur.

My wife wonders if there are some forms of garlic that she could tolerate, but she's not willing to do the experimentation to test them. (Garlic essentially shuts her digestive tract down for up to 18 hours, which is very uncomfortable.)

[BakerAunt]

Thanks for the reply, Mike. I know that just cooking the onion in a soup or sauteing them in olive oil does not work, so the dehydrating process must be the key to removing the offending element. I googled foods with sulfur and found this article:

https://www.webmd.com/diet/foods-high-in-sulfur

So, a lot of foods contain sulfur, but not every food with sulfur causes problems.

[Mike Nolan]

It appears likely that dehydrating onions changes or eliminates one of the volatile sulfur-based oils that helps account for the pungent taste of onions, which may account for why people who can't handle raw or cooked onions can handle reconstituted dehydrated onions.

[BakerAunt]

Hmm--my reply appears to have disappeared. I attempted to re-post and received a message that I had already posted it. I included some links, so maybe that upset the Spam filter.

I did copy my reply, and I have sent that info to my husband. He is, after all, a retired plant physiologist, so perhaps he can sort out which element it might be.

[BakerAunt]

So, now I googled: What kind of sulfur is in onions?" Here is a study that looks at heat, but apparently not dehydration:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1271/bbb.58.108

I think that it is mostly concerned with taste and onions grown in different places/different kinds (?) of onions. I also found an article on onion dehydration, but it does not address the sulfur question. It does discuss a variety of ways in which onions are dehydrated:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3614038/

I googled the same question for broccoli, which my husband happily eats:

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/sulforaphane#benefits

I am well out of my area of expertise here. My husband does fine with broccoli, cabbage, and cooked kale (neither of us cares for it raw), so their sulfur elements clearly differ from what is in most onions.

[BakerAunt]

So, now I googled: What kind of sulfur is in onions?" Here is a study that looks at heat, but apparently not dehydration:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1271/bbb.58.108

I think that it is mostly concerned with taste and onions grown in different places/different kinds (?) of onions. I also found an article on onion dehydration, but it does not address the sulfur question. It does discuss a variety of ways in which onions are dehydrated:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3614038/

I googled the same question for broccoli, which my husband happily eats:

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/sulforaphane#benefits

I am well out of my area of expertise here. My husband does fine with broccoli, cabbage, and cooked kale (neither of us cares for it raw), so their sulfur elements clearly differ from what is in most onions.

[Mike Nolan]

I found two messages, possibly similar if not identical, notated as 'pending'. Darned if I know what causes something to get that status, so I released them.

[Mike Nolan]

Here's a link to a journal article that lists several sulfur-based volatile compounds in onions.

There is sulfur in most living matter, but the form it takes varies.

See https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jfq/2017/6873651/

[Author]

Posts