Benefits of Onions: A Surefire Home Remedy in Your Kitchen

Health

3. Onion Honey Syrup

An onion syrup is a delicious way to take your medicine. Some people use sugar to make a more traditional syrup but I prefer to use raw honey for even more health benefits. Take onion honey syrup for any cold or flu, especially if a cough or congestion is present. You can also take a spoonful every day during the winter months to help keep sickness away.

Don’t go overboard with drinking this, though, as too much can cause digestive issues.

To make an onion honey syrup:

Thinly slice an onion and add it to a saucepan. Pour honey over the onion, just until covered. You should only need about ½ cup, maybe less.
Gently heat the honey over very low heat until the onions are soft and translucent. You don’t want the mixture to get over 115 degrees, or the honey will no longer be raw.
Take a spoonful of the onion honey every 3-4 hours, or until symptoms subside. To use as a preventative measure, take a spoonful or two every day during flu season.

4. Onions for Ear Infections

You may have used garlic oil for an ear infection in your kids before, but onion can be used in much the same way. A roasted or baked onion half can be cooled to a comfortable warmth and placed on the ear. This helps to relieve painful inflammation and fight the bacterial or viral infection in the ear. You can also squeeze the juice from the onion and place a few drops in the ear.

Be sure that the onion mixture is very well strained, since you don’t want any onion pieces in the ear. And never put anything in the ear if you suspect that there’s a possibility of a ruptured ear drum!

It’s always best to treat both ears even if your child only complains of pain in one, since the infection frequently spreads to both ears eventually.

5. Onion Soup

Soup is one of the easiest and tastiest ways to get more onion into your diet. Save your onion peels and add them to chicken bones and other veggies when you make bone broth. Researchers in this study thought that the onion as a whole, including the onion skin, contains higher levels of quercetin than just the onion alone. This means that saving your onion skins for a nutritious broth not only adds flavor, but potentially boosts the nutritional value more than the part you would eat.

My soothing garlic soup recipe includes onion and packs a powerful anti-sickness punch. You can also make some French onion soup to drink. The healing goodness of onion soup not only helps the body fight colds and flu but also bladder, kidney, and chronic urinary tract infections.

6. Onions for Sore Muscles, Sprains, and Strains

Onions are rubefacient, meaning they draw blood to the surface of the skin and increase circulation. The ancient Greeks rubbed onions on sore muscles to stimulate and warm them. Onions also reduce inflammation, making them perfect for bruises, strains, sprains, and even rheumatism. Just apply an onion poultice (above) to the affected area.

7. Onions to Draw Out Infection

Onions have been used for centuries to remove infection from damaged skin. Their properties will draw out pus from boils, bee stings, and the poison from an insect bite or bee sting. You can apply a fresh onion slice or onion poultice to the affected area.