The Story of Onion

The bulb onion is Allium cepa, a different species from chives, garlic, leek, and elephant garlic.

How it was found

Kew maps Allium cepa as a cultigen from Central Asia. Native list: Turkmenistan. Introduced widely (including California). USDA GRIN: cultivated in Africa, temperate and tropical Asia, Europe, Australia, Canada, Mexico, the United States, and parts of South America.

UC Santa Cruz CASFS: cultivated onions thought native to Central and Southwest Asia — Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Tahoe Basin UCCE MG: bulb onion thought to have evolved in Iran or central Asia; no ancestral form of A. cepa found in the wild. Santa Clara MG: origin Western Asia. Napa MG: cultivation about six thousand years, likely somewhere in Asia or northern Africa.

Tahoe UCCE MG (citing Fritsch & Friesen 2002): thought domesticated by multiple peoples at least 5000 years ago. UC Santa Cruz: evidence of cultivated onions dates back to 2,800–3,200 BC in Egypt (pyramid decoration and hieroglyphics; bulbs used in embalming/mummification). Santa Clara MG: eaten in Egypt before 3000 B.C.

How people used it

Kew lists food (also animal food). UCCE Stanislaus: alliums have seasoned food for thousands of years; onions and garlic were two of the most important crops consumed in ancient Egypt. UC Santa Cruz: indispensable culinary bulb (soups, stews, stocks, sauces); tunicate/laminate bulb of swollen leaf bases. Santa Clara MG: used for food since very early times; flavoring in nearly every current world culture.

Kew also lists medicinal use.

Timeline

1. 2,800–3,200 BC / before 3000 B.C.

   Egypt: food, pyramids, mummies

   UC Santa Cruz CASFS: evidence of cultivated onions dates back to 2,800–3,200 BC in Egypt (pyramid decoration and hieroglyphics; bulbs used in embalming and mummification). Santa Clara MG: eaten in Egypt before 3000 B.C. Tahoe UCCE MG: key food staple in Egypt during both the old and new kingdoms; used in mummification (small onions replaced eyes). Use in Egypt is not Kew’s Central Asia cultigen sentence.

   UC Santa Cruz CASFS; Santa Clara MG; Tahoe UCCE MG

2. At least 5000 years / about six thousand years

   Domesticated more than once

   Tahoe UCCE MG: thought domesticated by multiple peoples at least 5000 years ago. Napa MG: onion cultivation about six thousand years, likely Asia or northern Africa.

   Tahoe UCCE MG; Napa MG

3. 1493 / 1634 / 1640

   Isabella, Pilgrims, Iroquois

   Tahoe Basin UCCE MG: Columbus planted onions on Isabella in 1493; by 1634 the Pilgrims were raising onions for food and trade; Iroquois tribes were growing onions (native and European) in New York by 1640.

   Tahoe Basin UCCE MG — Spring Planting of Onions

4. 1753

   Named in Species Plantarum

   Kew accepts Allium cepa L., first published in Sp. Pl.: 300 (1753). USDA GRIN: Sp. pl. 1:300. 1753.

   Kew POWO; USDA GRIN

5. 1933

   Grano 502, parent of sweet short-days

   Tahoe Basin UCCE MG: in 1933 the Grano 502, parent of nearly all short-day sweet onions, was trialed by Texas A&M and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

   Tahoe Basin UCCE MG

Cool to know

Growing notes for this plant live on the Plant Wiki.