Perhaps the most tossed aside nutrient dense foods are the skins of onions and garlic. Because of their dryness and texture, many people assume that they cannot be eaten and never stop to realize just how nutritious they are. The reality is, that just like most fruits and vegetables, the skins hold more nutrients and fiber than the flesh of the vegetable.
Nutritional Value of Garlic and Onion Skins
Garlic Skin – “Garlic skin contains six separate antioxidant compounds, according to research from Japan. ‘Peeling garlic cloves removes the phenylpropanoid antioxidants which help fight the aging process and protect the heart,’ explains Dr Glenville”(Dailymail.co.uk). Like the cloves, the skin is also great for boosting immunity and lowering cholesterol.
Onion Skin – “While onions are a good source for antioxidants, the skin actually has more antioxidants than the onion itself. It’s also rich in quercetin – a flavonol that can reduce blood pressure and prevent arterial plaque that can cause stroke”(Dr. Oz). In addition, the skins are rich in fiber; diets high in fiber help to reduce heart disease, digestive problems, some types of cancer and type 2 diabetes. According to Science Daily (based on the journal, Plant Foods for Higher Nutrition), the phenolic compounds in onions help to prevent coronary disease and have anti-carcinogenic properties.
How to Incorporate Onion Skins Into Your Diet
*Please Note – ONLY use the skins of ORGANIC garlic and onions, otherwise you will be intaking the pesticides that were used on conventional ones.
The easiest way to incorporate the nutrients from the skins are by steeping them. Be it a soup, chili or a sauce, you can throw the skins in and let them stew in the liquid until you are done cooking. You can then take the skins out, as most of the nutrients will have steeped into your liquid, or you can choose to eat them.
You can also make a tea of them, using a tea ball and steeping them in boiling water.
If you look closely, you’ll see garlic and onion skins in with the turkey bone broth.
I use garlic paper in my salads, I cut them up into small pieces into my salads for extra nutrition, I heard garlic is helpful for people who have CFS, low energy, lupis, plus it’s a natural antibiotics. When you add the garlic paper to the salads you don’t even know you’re eating them.
Unfortunately pesticides and herbicides penetrate plants – not just the outer layer of the plant. Spray an apple with Raid. I bet you won’t eat it no matter how many times you wash it or peel it. It has been poisoned. Please support farmers that grow truly organic. Know your farmer.
Awesome! Just learning now in middle age how many awesome things God put on this earth to help us and keep us healthy!
i found it very useful, in fact, soaked it in water to bath my baby. Now i know i can make tea and stew with it.
I use onions and garlic skins in broths also in my fresh tomato sauce I make every fall . I usually add to the sauce and put the sauce through a vegetable mill. I’m happy to read onion peals and garlic peals are healthy because they add lots of delicious flavor.Would use use onion peals during pregnancy? I understand u probably dont want to claim anything as safe but have u or anybody you know eaten them during pregnancy and were they okay. I would guess its safe since i cant find any research that says otherwise and the amount in use isn’t too much.
My aunt drinks this when she was pregnant. The baby came out healthy
I forgot to mention, take the onion skin off the onion, wash, and boil in water in a small pan, about 1 1/2 cups of water. It will turn brown. You can add a tea bag, milk , sugar, sweetener, lemon or as you please to serve.
I use onion skin for colds, the day after I can go to work instead of staying home.
The remedy does not work for everybody,. If in 20 minutes you feel relief keep taking it throughout the day.
Wouldn’t raw onion skins deliver more nutrition, as with a blender or nut grinder. Are red onion skins easier to chop in a blender.
I don’t have a solid answer, but considering their dryness, I would think that like other foods that need to be soaked to release the nutrients and make them bio-available,that this is probably the case with onion skins as well.
I just started using garlic paper, I can’t really grind it, so I use my sissors and just cut them up it grinds better
All great comments…enjoyed reading….years ago I looked at all the veggi and some meat waste in my garbage and decided to create an environment that would eat these leftovers…rabbits, cats, dogs, birds, squirrels etc….only garlic and onion (which I use a lot ) was still a waste product. I will now keep some of my veggi left overs to blend with my skins….thank you all.
I keep a bag in my freezer and every time I use an onion I toss the peel and ends into the bag. I add carrot stubbs and other veggie remains while I am cooking. When I make my broth I just dump the bag in and it is perfect. I put it in my crockpot for 48 hours with a pasture raised chicken carcass and filtered water, add more carrots, celery, bay leaf, peppercorns and other herbs. I strain it all and enjoy the broth. I am going to have to start adding the garlics skins as well. Thanks for the tip.
Careful with your claims – organic foods can contain pesticides too! The only way something is guaranteed pesticide-free is if it is labeled as such. You should treat organic produce the same as conventional when it comes to washing, tossing skins, etc.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/science-sushi/2011/07/18/mythbusting-101-organic-farming-conventional-agriculture/
I’m understanding……..the dry skin of an onion……….and the dry white skin of a clove of garlic…..has all this amazing nutrients…..?
yes, you are correct!
I wonder if it would retain the nutritional value if you put the skins in the blender and then added it to your dish to stew?
That’s what I do. Just enough to get them ready for cooking!
larry is soooooooooooooooo cool….he knows EVERYTHING before anyone else and does it better than anyone eles,don’t’cha larry?……
This is great advice if you’re buying organic garlic and onions or if you’re growing your own and know what’s being used on your soil. If it’s conventionally raised stuff, I always toss it because it’s soaked up all those pesticides. 🙁
Organic can contain pesticides too! The label “organic” does NOT mean pesticide free, it merely specifies what type of pesticides. They can be every bit as dangerous as the other stuff, and typically these pesticides are used more heavily in organic farming.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/06/18/137249264/organic-pesticides-not-an-oxymoron
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/science-sushi/2011/07/18/mythbusting-101-organic-farming-conventional-agriculture/
But couodnt u just wash the pecticide off? If u eat an apple u probably wouldnt think anything of eatimg tge skin.
no, not only does it not wash off, the Environmental Work Group has proven that is goes into the cells of the food, so it’s not just on the skin and it doesn’t cook out.
I did not know that, so vasically the only way to aboid eating pesticides is by not eating sprayed veggies n fruits?
there is nothing in your link that says they are “typically” used in heavier amounts, just that they could be.
They would need to be organic garlic and onions, otherwise the skins would contain the most concentration of toxins, from sprays, etc.
I put the ends of all onions and garlic, carrots and celery in a bag in the freezer. Anytime I make stock I dump all the odds and ends in. That way you save money and get the best of everything:)
While you’re at it, save all your veggie scraps over a few days and tie them all into a cheese cloth or the like to steep them into a broth.
Onion skins, I know, make a good natural dye, as well. Haven’t tried garlic skin.
I just wash them, give them a couple chops, throw them into my roasting pan with whatever I am roasting. Drizzle with olive or coconut oil!! Yum!
Try roasting with tomatoes and red/orange/yellow peppers… Empty roasted veg into a blender or processor and blend til smooth. Toss with pasta, quinoa, potatoes, rice, chickpeas… Whatever you fancy… Yummy!!!
Awesome! I will try it 🙂
you can also take those roasted, garlic, onions, peppers, zuccini, etc., pulse a few times with cream cheese or farmer’s cheese for a extremely yummy spread!!! Plus the aroma of the vegies roasting smells soooo good! 🙂
Where have you people been for the past hundred years or so ?? Every ‘cook’ knows that stock made from vegetable trimmings (with the bones from chickens, turkeys or beef – optional) makes the base for all of the most delicious & healthy soups, sauces and gravies. I make mine at home and donate gallons of extra to the local restaurant to use in their soups and gravies served to their customers. And they use it for the “meals on wheels” dinners that they serve to locals in the community, and the compliments on how great the food tastes, is worth every minute it takes to prepare it, from what most people ‘throw out’ because they don’t know what to do with it …….
Where have we been? – caught between old school tradition and victims of society where the makers of processed food would have us believe that parts are better then wholes (such as by cutting animals apart and selling them piece by piece rather than using the whole of the animal)… good for you – so great to hear. 🙂
Larry, I too am surprised at people who don’t use the everything cooking, I don’t waste and when I make poultry stocks I also add a cap full of vinegar then when its boiled everything down and then bones are soft I then squeeze the goodness out of the bones. A nice bowl of homemade soup and a loaf of homemade bread, whats better
If you want to be really helpful, you would give us your recipe.
I’m only a third of that 100 years you’re wondering about. I wasn’t raised. Everything I’ve learned has been by trial, error…more error and the Internet. I AM a cook and my trimmings never included sprouts of carrots, skins of onions, skins of garlic or even potato eyes. I use these items in the compost. Everything I’ve listed taste bitter to me so I wouldn’t initially try it as stock. Do you have a basic recipe to share, Larry?
I don’t know a single restaurant in my area who could pass health inspection codes allowing someone to donate gallons of “extras” made from their home. :/ I’d honestly be leery of a restaurant who did that.
Any ol way, I appreciate the tips on how to reduce and reuse. Thanks for the insight, Larry. I look forward to the recipe soon!
I use onion skins and garlic skins in chicken stock or beef stock, it’s great to know there are benefits to doing that. Waste not want not!
I agree! There’s still nutrition in those skins, they might as well be used to make your family healthy!
I didn’t know this! I will be adding them to our bone broth! Thank you!!
Make a real vegetable stock with vegetable trimmings.
I make stock from the onion and garlic skins.
Do you just use the skins or do you add it to something like chicken bones?
Sounds interesting enough to try….
Healthy changes that are easily incorporated into my life are always appreciated! I see soup on the menu soon. Thanks!
I guess you could put it in cheese cloth in your crock pot when making bone broth.
🙂
I will try this.
I have been saying this to my family for years..thank you for proving me right!