Alexis Soyer, in his Pantropheon, states:

Whoever wishes to preserve his health must eat every morning, before breakfast. young onions, with honey.1" Such a treat is assuredly not very tempting : besides, this rather strong vegetable leaves after it a most unpleasant perfume, which long reminds us of its presence ; wherefore this recipe has not met with favour, and, indeed, it is much to be doubted whether it will ever become fashionable.

Dioscorides gives a diverse number of uses for onions. He does not give specific forms of treatment. I am truly hoping that pearl onions are used for the last purpose.

“A vomitory medicine is made from it (marjoram) with onions and rhus [1-147], all of them being sunned in the burning heat under the dog [in summer] in a brass copper jar for forty days”. (note: rhus is R. coriaria or tanning sumac)

“They reduce the intensity of symptoms, cause thirst, cause nauseousness and purging, are good for the bowels, open the passages for excrement, and are good for haemorrhoids. First peeled and put into oil, they are given as a suppository.”

The Leechbook of Bald suggests a property only vaguely hinted at in Dioscorides' descriptions: antibacterial action, both topical and systemic. I'm not sure which is the “netherward” part of a plant (possibly the roots?), but “waybroad” is Plantago major or plantain. Sigsonte might possibly be sesame. The Anglo-Saxon dictionary lists it as simply “plant” but it came up through a search of the word “sesame”. A fellon is an infection in the fingertip.

“Again for the same,(earache) take an onion, seethe it in oil, drip the oil on the ear.”

“A drink for fellons ; sigsonte, onion, leek, the netherward part of waybroad, boil all in water and sweeten with honey.”

Somewhere between then and now, someone discovered that an onion poultice applied to the chest helped ease coughs and congestion. You can find clear directions for making an onion poultice and another site has some good advice for applying one if you're trying to ease a cough for a child.

Modern research indicates that onions are useful as a blood thinner, a diuretic, and an antibacterial. This site has a good breakdown.

This site, which offers well researched information, gives a possible use that I've not seen suggested before- apparently there is some evidence that onions help heal the scars from having a tattoo removed. That information is toward the end of the page if you want to read it for yourself.

You can find an incredibly thorough list of nutrients in onions here.  Reading this, it becomes very clear why onions are considered so good for you.

I'm sure that there are uses that I didn't list here. Our relationship with the onion has been so long that there's no way to condense it into one post. Do you have a favorite use that wasn't mentioned? Tell me about it in the comments below. Please remember to like and share this post. Thanks for stopping by!