<< Recently I read the following statement:
“Onions have no flavor, only a smell”
I mentioned this to my wife and she thought I was off my rocker. She is
certain that onions do have a flavor. After doing some research on the web I,
too, have come to this conclusion. What bugs me is that my source for this
statement is always right. Could my source (I know I should perish the
thought!) be wrong? Can anybody tell me what is the real truth?
I’m no food scientist, but I know there are several different varieties of onions. I know that some are called sweet onions (in particular Vidalia onions). If you take said sweet onions and you saute them, they taste even sweeter. Hmmm…
There’s your problem. Who is this source? Always right? I doubt it. Unless it’s Cecil.
Our sense of "flavor’, as opposed to “taste”, is actually the combination of what our tongue tastes and our nose smells. Although we are putting food in our mouths most of what we think we are tasting, we are actually smelling. I am sure you have noticed how “tasteless” food seems when you have a cold or some other affliction that causes your nose to be stopped up.
As for the onion, I would think that since it is so aromatic, most of what we are “tasting” is actually smell. But, since our tongues have receptors for tasting sweetness and onions have varying amounts of sugar in them, simply saying “onions have no taste” is very unlikely.
I can disprove the claim “Onions have no taste, only smell” with anecdotal evidence. Yesterday, I had a salad for lunch that included onions. I also had (and still have) allergies acting up, leaving my sense of smell currently non-existant, and I could definitely taste the onion.
Therefore, at least some onions have a taste.
It wasn’t sweet, either, btw. The only definition for the taste is “oniony”.
I heard on NPR a few weeks ago a chef who was very interested in food science. He said that although Vidalia onions taste sweeter uncooked, when cooked they are less flavorful. That is because the stuff that gives onions their punch when raw is also what gives them their flavor.
Onions definitely have flavor. There’s a fair amount of starch in them, and when you cook them for a nice long period (like sauteeing them over medium-low heat for, say, 25-30 minutes), they turn brown and the starch is converted to wonderful carmelized sugar.
Perhaps Vidalias start out with more sugar, but have less starch over all. I also have found them pretty insipid cooked, although they make wonderful salads, much easier to take than the sometimes nose-clearing Spanish or red onions.
[useless factoid]
The Vidalia onions don’t actually have more sugar than the regular onions. The sweet onions (Vidalias, Walla Wallas, Maui and Texas Sweets among them) are grown in soil that has a much lower sulfur content than average. The lower sulfur content means that they are less pungent and the sugars are more apparent in taste.
[/useless factoid]
All I know is that when I (pardon me) burp after eating onions, it’s the taste that I’m reliving, not the smell (although there is a smell there, too).
Telemark That chef was probably Russ Parsons. Check this thread for some info