Page "Onion" Paragraph 17

The cultivated onion was introduced to North America by Christopher Columbus on his 1492 expedition to Hispaniola ; however, they found that strains of wild onions already grew throughout North America.

Native American Indians used wild onions in a variety of ways, eating them raw or cooked, as a seasoning or as a vegetable.

Such onions were also used in syrups, as poultices, as an ingredient in dyes and even as toys.

According to diaries of colonists, bulb onions were planted as soon as the Pilgrim fathers could clear the land in 1648.