reaction products than do other alliums.
Chopping, pounding in a mortar, and pureeing
in a food processor all give distinctive results.
Chopped alliums to be eaten raw — as a
garnish or in an uncooked sauce — are best
rinsed to remove all the sulfur compounds
from the damaged surfaces, since these tend
to become harsher with time and exposure to
the air.
Onion and garlic bulbs. The bulbs in the onion
family consist of a central stem bud and
surrounding leaf bases, which swell with
stored nutrients during one growing season
and then supply them to the bud in the next.
One sulfur product is produced in
significant quantities only in the onion,
shallot, leek, chive, and rakkyo: the
“lacrimator,” which causes our eyes to water.
This volatile chemical escapes from the