Onion Oil

#### Onion Oil On account of its medicinal value, the onion of **Allium**** ****Cepa**** **was subjected to steam distillation as far back as late in the 19th century. The essential oil was produced occasionally for use in pharmaceutical preparations and in popular medicine for various ailments, colds, etc. The plant originated, like so many other plants of the family Liliaceae, in western Asia, the Middle East and middle Asia. Numerous varieties of onion are cultivated all over the world. In France, occasionally in Germany and Egypt, an essential oil is distilled from **Allium Cepa, **the common culinary onion ("red onion", also known in white varieties). Onion Oil is a brownish yellow, occasionally pale yellow mobile liquid with a very strong odor (when undiluted, it is obnoxiously sulfuraceous) and distinct lachrymatory effect. Chemically, the oil consists of higher sulfides (disulfides) and traces of low-boiling aliphatic aldehydes. The oil is distinguished by the complete absence of terpenes. The flavor of onion oil is warm-aromatic, spicy, biting or pungent (according to the concentration), very similar to the flavor of raw onions. To the author's knowledge, onion oil is used exclusively in flavors, never in perfumes, although such application is very possible (violet, hyacinth, rose, etc. can benefit from minute traces of onion oil for a distinct part of the topnote). The oil has found an increasing outlet in the canning industry in flavors for soups, meat, table sauces, dressings, etc. There are wide limits for a suggested use-level concentration, according to the acidity and overall type of finished product in which the oil will be incorporated. The **Minimum Perceptible **is about 0.01 mg%. An onion extract of "oleo-resin" type is produced in France for use in canned food (see **Onion**** ****Oleoresin).** The annual production of **Onion**** ****Oil**** **is still quantitatively small, but easily adjusted to demand. See also **Asafetida**, **Garlic, Horseradish.**