# When a recipe calls for an onion **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [February 5, 2021, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-a-recipe-calls-for-an-onion/932266 "2021-02-05T14:02:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2021, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-a-recipe-calls-for-an-onion/932266/61 "2021-02-06T18:05:04Z")
You’re right, it doesn’t matter. It just seems like an unnecessary affectation on an American message board. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2021, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-a-recipe-calls-for-an-onion/932266/62 "2021-02-06T18:50:45Z")
> [@bump](#): > > But 90% of the time when a recipe calls for “an onion” or “half an onion”, they mean half of a garden-variety, generic yellow onion. Without knowing the recipe, I’d almost certainly round up to the nearest full onion. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2021, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-a-recipe-calls-for-an-onion/932266/63 "2021-02-06T19:27:20Z")
Yellow for cooking, red for eating raw. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2021, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-a-recipe-calls-for-an-onion/932266/64 "2021-02-07T02:30:37Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > A cursory internet cite shows that some people in the U.K. and Australia call yellow onions “brown onions”. I don’t think the poster in question is from either of those places. Correct, but “brown one” at least comes closer to rhyming with “onion” than “yellow one” does. > [@thorny\_locust](#): > > When a recipe calls for an onion > The thread really should be such a fun one > That Kimstu can see > (according to me) > That it could be as good as a pun one. (chef’s kiss) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2021, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-a-recipe-calls-for-an-onion/932266/65 "2021-02-07T03:01:06Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I always wondered why they called them yellow onions when the flesh is white and the skin is brown, but then I’ve seen some varieties with thinner, more golden skin. Actually, after making a pot of French onion soup today, I need to correct myself on that. The Spanish onions I was cutting up today did have a light greenish-yellow flesh. I guess I just mentally have always rounded that up to “white” but in comparison with the white onions I also used, the difference was obvious. It’s like when people call it “white cabbage” that it confuses me, as that type of cabbage is green but, indeed, its interior is more-or-less white or very pale green. I still call it “green cabbage.” ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2021, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-a-recipe-calls-for-an-onion/932266/66 "2021-02-07T09:04:29Z")
> I don’t really like onion. Fresh onion needs to be very finely diced. I strongly dislike dishes with large pieces of onion. The easy answer for this is, if possible, leave the onions out and provide [fried shallots](https://www.myasiangrocer.com.au/doree-fried-shallots-1kg/). They are a common addition to Asian dishes. I think everyone I know keeps them around to add onioniness to anything. One of the best extras for your kitchen, you can throw them on everything - salads, hot dogs , burgers, sandwiches, rice and noodle dishes. And if you don’t like onions leave them off . ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2021, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-a-recipe-calls-for-an-onion/932266/67 "2021-02-07T09:59:32Z")
I usually buy yellow. Sometimes sweet for a bit of variety. I don’t know what the diced onions in a bag from Trader Joe’s are but if I’m being lazy I buy those. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-a-recipe-calls-for-an-onion/932266/68 "2021-02-08T15:23:29Z")
I also took a longer look at onions at the grocery yesterday. The Spanish “yellow” skins are plainly brown and the sweets are straight yellow. I needed an onion for the soup I was making and bought a sweet one to try. Just bland, not very sharp & not very sweet but crisp, kind of like jicama or maybe a mild daikon. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-a-recipe-calls-for-an-onion/932266/69 "2021-02-08T15:39:48Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > A cursory internet cite shows that some people in the U.K. and Australia call yellow onions “brown onions”. I don’t think the poster in question is from either of those places. I don’t know if this is one of those weird things where people’s perception of colour is based on the naming of colours (like that thing about the Greeks saying the sky was green or whatever), or if we just have different onions here (UK). The standard onions here have a sort of light nut-brown outer skin; inside they are pale greenish white. I don’t know that I have ever seen one that I considered ‘yellow’ here. (I know that yellow is a weird colour and in some senses, brown is just dark yellow) ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-a-recipe-calls-for-an-onion/932266/70 "2021-02-08T16:53:18Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > The standard onions here have a sort of light nut-brown outer skin; inside they are pale greenish white. I don’t know that I have ever seen one that I considered ‘yellow’ here. > (I know that yellow is a weird colour and in some senses, brown is just dark yellow) That description exactly matches the “yellow onions” in my US home. I don’t know why they are called “yellow”. But yellow is similar to light brown. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-a-recipe-calls-for-an-onion/932266/71 "2021-02-08T16:58:53Z")
Before they fully ripen for storage, they are more of a yellowish-buff colour. Maybe it comes from that. I find that in a some UK/US language differences, the US version of a word seems (to me) a little _closer to the soil_ than the UK in one way or another - perhaps simply because of the comparatively more recent pioneer/colonial history of the US [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-a-recipe-calls-for-an-onion/932266.md?page=3)