Unusual Uses of Onions

-We all regularly use onions for day to day cooking and we discard onion skins.

-Onions form not only great food but has healing properties.Even onion skins can be used as dye for eggs,cloth,paper

I will show few of my experiments using onion skins.

-Onion skins form wonderful colors from light orange to yellow or brownish shade depending on the color of skin used.You can give a new look to your old clothes after dyeing

-I have taken one old white cotton shirt of my baby and dyed with onion skins as an experiment and i was surprised to see wonderful light orange shade

-You can even dye wool,fabric,silk by using onion skin

PROCEDURE

-First we need to collect onion skins and keep ready.

-I have taken a bowl of onion skins and added double the amount of water to it and transferred to an aluminium vessel and simmered for 1 hour

-I left the skins in dye for 24 hours to get little dark color.

-After 24 hours i strained the liquid from onion skins using colander

-we need to soak whatever fabric we are using in hot water before transferring to dye bath.

-Normally while dyeing we need to add any mordants like salt,vinegar or alum in dye bath so that dye properly fixes on fabric

-Here i didnt use any specific mordant as i used aluminium pot for heating the dye which creates bright colors.

-An alum mordant would generally have same effect as aluminium pot.

-We need to soak the fabric in hot water ,squeeze and transfer to dye bath in aluminium vessel and SIMMER for 30 minutes.

-Let the fabric soak in dye bath for 8 to 10 hours.

-After 8 hours rinse the fabric under running water until you see clear water

-Dry the fabric on shade

-This over all process can be done back to back without soaking for such a long period but colors may vary from light yellow to orange shade

-I got orange shade after drying.Here you can see in my pics color from front side,back and inside is almost same

-Onion skins can be used to dye eggs.These can be used as natural dyes for coloring eggs which are perfect for easter

INGREDIENTS

-Egg,

-Rubber band

-cloth

-onion skins

-water

-Take the onion skins and immerse in water and wet them

-Even weth the cloth and clean the egg with water

-Wrap the eggs with onion skins and place on wet cloth and tie with rubber band

-Now place the cloth in water and boil the egg for 20 minutes

-cool and unwrap it. you can see beautifully colored eggs

-Apply little oil on them for shine

Here are the dyed eggs

-Outer skin of onions contain rich source of plant compounds called flavinoids which promote elasticity in skin. this keeps you look younger for longer and helps to clear acne

-outer skin also contains an antioxidant,anti inflammatory compound quercetin.

-Quercetin lowers LDL cholestrol and blood pressure.It also works to reduce allergies like asthma,hay fever and also some forms of cancer

-onion skin tea also reduces your leg cramps and if you have indigestion,your body may be too acidic.This tea will alkalize your digestive system and cleanse the colon

-As onion skin is not edible we can prepare this tea and have it daily for health benefits

-Wash whole onions to get rid of dust,peel the skins and collect in mason jar.

-Add hot water to the jar and let the skins steep for 20 minutes

-strain the liquid and add honey to it.Drink onion skin tea before bed time .You can even even add them to soups and stew

-This tea also relieves sore throat.

-Onion skin tea is not recommended for PREGNANT WOMEN and nursing mothers

-onions have millions of cells within their flesh.These contain enzymes called allinases.These enzymes when contact with oxygen or air they break down in to amino acid sulphoxides creating sulphenic acid.

-sulphenic acid react strongly with anything containg hydroxide .Rust happens to be such a substance containing atleast one hydroxide ion for every atom of iron in compound

-When cut onion is rubbed against something rusty,the sulphenic acid within onion breaks down the rust,causing it to flake away,leaving behind any untouched layers of iron beneath the rust coating.This process also neutralises the acid

I tried to remove rust from my old knife and finally found onions work best for removing light rust but for heavy rust its totally time consuming and can opt for other techniques

-We can also polish to our cutlery and all other metal items with onions. slice onions and soak in water for some time.

-Take some soft cloth and dip in onion water and rub your cutlery or any metal items.Later you can clean with water

-You wil observe change and they begin to shine.

-You can see change my cutlery were dull before and after applying onion water they began to shine

-Decrease the paint smell of newely painted room by placing sliced onions in bowl of water over night in that room

-keep ants away by placing raw cut onions in areas where ants are crawling