You must have heard many things about green onions like how they’re good for you, improve your eyesight and so on.
But, do you really know everything about green onions? No?
Well, let us tell you everything you need to know about this onion relative (and some hidden secrets too)!
Here’s the deal: keep reading about green onions, and we dare you to stop yourself from including green onions as a part of your diet.
Green onions may not have the same girth as their onion relatives, but these white bulbs with green tips are big on taste.
They are heavily used in Continental and Chinese dishes and help to add varied flavors to recipes.
A rich source of potassium, vitamin C, and quercetin, these mildly-flavored onions provide many health benefits that you probably don’t know.
In general, onions deliver surprising benefits to health, and even though green onions have the same healthy components, they have a much higher concentration.
It is the green parts of the green onions where most of the phytonutrient goodness is found.
Did you know that green onions are a widely used ingredient in Chinese cooking and the principal onion in Japanese cooking?
We didn’t either!
What Are the Health Benefits of Eating Green Onions?
You can gain innumerable health benefits by including green onions as a part of your daily diet.
Some of the benefits are:
- Regulates blood sugar and prevents diabetes
- Improves the health of the immune system
- Helps in the prevention of cancer
- Protects from contracting peptic ulcers by restricting the growth of bacteria
- Prevents cold
- Boosts eye health
- Strengthens bone
- It helps in improving digestion
- Prevents arthritis
- Beneficial for swollen feet and sore throat
- It helps to reduce inflammation as it contains anti-inflammatory components
Is It Safe to Eat Green Onions?
Green onions are mostly used in cooking in their raw form, and it is completely safe for consumption.
As a matter of fact, it is probably one of the few vegetables which you can eat whole.
Every part of green onion is edible and can be used in different types of food preparations. You can consume its roots, stalks, shoots, and bulb.
If you are like me and do not like the strong flavor of onions, green onions are your go-to green vegetable.
It has a much less severe flavor, and it is basically onion, just premature.
Why Are Green Onions Good for You?
Green onions come loaded with many nutrients that your body needs to function and stay healthy.
They are low in calories, making for an excellent addition to your every diet.
Since most of the calories come from carbohydrates and dietary fibers, consuming green onions will give your body the energy it needs to carry out day-to-day functioning.
The fibers will aid in better digestion.
So, if you are suffering from weight issues or digestive problems, you must increase the intake of green onions.
Do you want to improve your eyesight?
You can do so naturally by increasing your intake of green onions. These vegetables contain carotenoids, including lutein, vitamin A, and zeaxanthin.
While zeaxanthin and lutein will work together to improve the health of your eye, vitamin A will ensure that you are able to see clearly at night and do not fall victim to night blindness.
If you consume green onions daily, your eye cells will be protected from damage and will be able to fight against macular degeneration.
Green onions are an excellent source of sulphuric compounds, vitamin C, phytochemicals, and flavonoids.
So, it turns out that you no longer have to cry over onions but can simply switch to green onions.
By incorporating green onions as a part of your diet, you will be able to take full advantage of their vitamin K and C content.
Both of these content offer wonderful benefits to your skeletal health as it helps synthesize the collagen responsible for keeping bones strong and makes it easier for the body to use calcium, as it is beneficial for bone density.
How Do You Use Green Onions?
Every part of green onion can be used in different food preparations.
Even though you will mostly find the pale green and white root portion in most recipes, the green leaves are also heavily used as the garnish for soups, casseroles, and so on.
In fact, you can also use green onions in place of chives in some dishes.
You can use green onions raw, or you can choose to toss them in olive oil or in some kind of dressing.
Irrespective of how you choose to use it, these vegetables will alleviate the taste of the food and provide you with all the essential nutrients that your body needs to grow and remain healthy.
Green onions are the most versatile among their onion relatives and can be used in any way that one chooses.
It can be cooked or used raw in various recipes from around the world.
What Are the Medicinal Benefits of Green Onions?
The medicinal part of green onions is the stem.
It also works as an expectorant, antipyretic, anti-fungal, and anti-bacterial.
Green onions are particularly effective against headaches, colds, indigestion, chills to the stomach, and also for insomnia.
The white stem of green onions even contains a lot of allyl sulfides and glucose.
The health conditions where green onions can be used as alternative medicine are:
- Common cold
- Expulsion of phlegm from the respiratory tract
- Normalizing blood pressure
- Prevention of diarrhea
- Inhibits or kills fungus infections
- Prevents the growth of cancer cells, especially colon cancer
- Boosts blood circulation and reduces stress
Green onions are a natural food supplement that makes food tasty and flavorful and adds health.
Consuming green onions daily would keep the doctor away.
There are also topical applications of green onions.
It can be cut, put in a cloth, and steamed to act as a hot compress for sore throat.
You can boil the green onions, grind them and make a paste out of them to place on your swollen foot.
The green onions can be mashed and placed on the nose to get relief from nasal congestion.
What Are the Benefits of Green Onion Leaves?
Green onion leaves offer numerous health benefits and can even be used as traditional medicine for numerous health complaints.
As they contain anti-inflammatory properties, it helps in reducing inflammation of any kind.
The vitamin C content in the leaves of green onions protects the body against diseases such as wrinkles, heart disease, and eye pain.
Eating green onion leaves is especially beneficial during the winters as it helps overcome a runny nose.
It can also solve the problem of nasal congestion and give you the relief that you need.
Even if you are suffering from a sore throat, green onions can help you overcome that.
You can cook delicious dishes using green onion leaves and other ingredients.
You can choose to grill it, steam it or simply chop it up and use it as a garnish.
You can eat as many green onion leaves as you can but please remember it contains very few calories!
Green onion leaves are like magical vegetables that can solve all your health problems without much effort.
Moreover, it tastes so delicious that you will not have a problem adding it as a part of your daily diet.
How to Eat Green Onions?
Green onions can be eaten raw, cooked, or used as a garnish.
Here, given below are a few tasty ways to consume green onions:
- Sprinkle finely sliced green onions over a bowl of delicious soup. Along with taste, it will add eye-catching color.
- Stir fry the green onions until they are crispy and mix them with rice or noodles, egg or chicken, and other vegetables.
- Whenever you want a bit of onion flavor in your salad, chop up green onions and mix them well. The raw green onion is going to add the needed crunch to your salad.
- Tuck them into your sandwich
What Are the Benefits of Eating Green Onions During Pregnancy?
Green onions are considered to be extremely healthy for pregnant women.
Eating green onions will provide you and your developing baby with copious amounts of important nutrients if you are pregnant.
This vegetable contains vital minerals and vitamins, including several micronutrients that are not available in vitamin supplements.
It is highly recommended that pregnant women add green onions to their diet.
Eating green onions makes pregnant women healthy, leading to a good supply of breast milk.
Scallions, Spring Onions, and Green Onions – What Is the Difference?
Do you want a hit of onion flavor, but less intense? Green onions and scallions will be your alliums of choice.
But, wait. What are spring onions?
Are green onions, spring onions, and scallions all the same? Or are they not?
Scallions and green onions are one and the same thing. So, no confusion there!
They can either be harvested young from the bulb-forming onions that you probably eat every day or they can also come from different varieties that never really form bulbs.
Scallions or green onions are long and come with a white stem, and they are onions but with a lot less onion-like flavor.
You can cook them or eat them raw.
Your choice!
So, you must be wondering about spring onions then.
Well, they do look quite similar to scallions, but if you look carefully, you will notice that the bulbs at the base are much smaller.
They even differ in taste and are a lot mellower and sweeter than regular onions.
Why the Confusion Between Green and Spring Onions?
Often confused and misnamed with one another, green onions and spring onions are both immature onions.
The green onions are generally sold in bunches and feature really long, green leaves but no bulb.
It has a mild flavor, and you can eat them raw if you like or cook them lightly.
On the other hand, spring onions have a round and white bulb with long stems.
They are also sold in bunches. Spring onions have a more pungent and sharp flavor when compared to green onions.
However, the confusion between green and spring onions however maybe because green onions are called spring onions in different countries, such as the United Kingdom and Canada.
What Do Australians Call Green Onions?
Green onions are commonly called scallions in Australia.
However, they have numerous names across the world, such as table onion, spring onion, salad onion, green onion, long onion, onion stick, precious onion, gibbon, yard onion, and shallot.
These diverse names are one of the reasons why people are perpetually confused regarding the difference between green onions, spring onions, and scallions.
Well, hopefully, now you won’t be confused anymore.
Chives and Green Onions – Are They the Same Thing?
Another confusion that most people have is between green onions and chives.
Chives are in no way associated with green onions.
They are a completely different species.
Even though they do have an onion-like flavor, they are basically used as a garnish or herb instead of the whole ingredient.
So, the next time you go grocery shopping, make sure you will not pick up chives in place of green onions.
Nutrition Facts of Raw Green Onion
The nutritional value of green onions per 100 grams is given below:
- Iron – 1.2 mg
- Calcium – 31 mg
- Carotene – 14 µg
- Potassium – 180 mg
- Vitamin B2 – 0.04 mg
- Vitamin B1 – 0.04 mg
- Vitamin C – 11 mg
- Fiber – 1 g
- Glucose – 1 g
- Carbohydrates – 2 g
- Sodium – 5 mg
It is usually recommended that a person consumes 100 to 150 grams of green onions.
The wonderful health and medicinal benefits of this green vegetable are simply incomparable.
In The Last
Green onions will not make you cry when you cut into them, and their subtle flavor is not going to overpower any of your preparations.
If you want to lead a healthy, long life, make sure to add green onions to your diet.
From providing relief from arthritic pain to lowering your blood pressure levels and ensuring that your developing baby is born healthy, green onions are the answer you have been waiting for.
Consuming green onions is the latest food trend.
Have you tried it out yet? Share your experience.