Food - Drink
How To Subdue The Flavor Of Raw Onions For Salads Or Sandwiches
By STEPHANIE FRIEDMAN
Many people enjoy sharp, crunchy raw onions in a salad or sandwich, but there are also plenty of raw onion haters out there that dislike the overpowering flavor. If you want the crunch factor and pleasant taste of fresh onions in your food without overpowering the other ingredients, there's a way to tame them just a bit.
If the taste of raw onions in a sandwich or salad makes you cringe, all you have to do is soak the onions in cold water after slicing them. Just cut your onions to your liking and immediately place the slices in a bowl of water with ice cubes in it, letting them sit for about 15 minutes before draining them and allowing them to dry.
When onions are immersed in water, the sulfoxides that give them their pungent flavor and aroma disperse, taking their overpowering qualities with them. If you want to subdue them even more, try adding a tablespoon of baking soda to every cup of water you use to counteract sulfenic acid, which can give onions a bitter taste.