Onions have always played a key role in natural medicine, thanks to their well-known anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties.

Raw onions can help ease the itching and swelling from insect bites as well as accelerate the healing process for minor cuts. When cooked in broth, instead, they are effective against cold and flu symptoms.

In 1919, as legend has it, during a flu epidemic that affected 40 million people, a doctor who was travelling the countrysides to tend to the sick farmers, ran into a family who was perfectly - and surprisingly - healthy. 

When he asked them why none of them had caught the virus, they explained that they had placed a whole, unpeeled onion in every room of the house.

Upon examining one of the onions under the microscope, the doctor was shocked to see that it had indeed absorbed the virus, protecting the family from influenza. 

Although this anecdote has never been verified, there are no doubts about the onion’s healthy properties: the main benefits obtained from consuming onions derive from a substance known as allicin, a molecule capable of limiting cholesterol production in the liver, and which also has anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and protective effects. Furthermore, allicin also helps keep blood pressure in check.