In the spotlight - Onions

If there's one veg that every store cupboard should always have in, I'd say it's the onion. Whether it's a soup, sauce, stew, stir-fry, curry, salad or sandwich, you usually can't go wrong with adding some onion to give it some flavour. I can guarantee that if you buy half a dozen onions, you'll have used them before they spoil.

• Onions crop up quite often in history. In ancient Egypt, the onion, with its concentric rings was thought to represent eternal life and was worshipped and were even added to tombs in the hope that they would bring the dead back to life. Onions were used by Greek athletes and Roman gladiators, as they were thought to improve stamina and muscles. They were also used as currency in Europe.
• Onions, along with garlic, belong to the lily family. 
• The UK produces 450,000 tonnes of onions each year, with 23,000 acres devoted to their growth.
• When you mention the word onion, you probably think of the common brown onions, but there are so many varieties. While you'll also easily be able to buy red and spring onions, if you grow your own you can enjoy some of the others and could perhaps turn your hand to pickling or silverskin onions - always lovely in a salad.
• Onions are a good source of fibre and Vitamin C. Red onions are packed with antioxidants.
• Do you shed a tear when you chop an onion? If so, chopping them under running water or adding white vinegar to the chopping board prior to cutting are remedies to this problem that chefs swear by.
• Apparently if you want to remove the smell of a newly painted room, a chopped onion placed in the centre will do the trick.

Onions can be added to most savoury dishes, so for all I haven't provided any recipes, here are my 5 favourite ways to use them:

•  Add a finely chopped onion to a tin of tomatoes and you then have a base for a soup or sauce, think chill, spag bol, curry - what you can't do with tinned tomatoes and an onion isn't worth doing.
• Small red onions tossed with chopped peppers, courgettes and tomatoes in balsamic vinegar and green herbs, they are lovely roasted.
• Stir-fried with pepper, whatever protein you fancy and fajita seasoning for a tasty wrap.
• Wedges of onion cooked with apple and sausage, seasoned with mustard and rosemary, makes a nice casserole.
• Rings of red onion, along with sliced peppers, tomatoes, mushroom and sweetcorn to top a pizza.