As the previous Answerer noted, that Question has been Asked and Asked over and over again, so I'm just going to sum it up with a bit of a different spin...

The chemical system used by onions to cause tears was evolved as a defense mechanism to stop mammals from eating it, and normally it worked, but then humans figured out how to work fire, and then cooking, and they found they could make cooked meat taste better by mixing it with onions, which would loose their tearful taste and turn savory when cooked along with the meat, such that humans became quite willing to battle through the tears in order to get the advantages that cooked onions would do to cooked meat...

And... that tradition goes so far back in time that we have *no idea* when it started, but we do know that they were valuable as far back as there are records, because onions were part of what builders were paid to work on the pyramids.

Yes, records survive to this day because they were carved on columns of stone somewhere, so I'm sorry, but it was humans and not aliens who built the pyramids, and one of the benefits paid to those farmers with nothing to do while their land was underwater from the Nile's annual flooding was, at peak construction, an average of 40,000 dried tubors of onions and horseradishes per constuction season.

That's right... the pyramids were built by people who loved the taste of horseradish and onions with their meat so much that they'd move around multi-tonne blocks of stone uphill to get it.

So... maybe they make you cry... but I bet you can't send them away.
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Onion is one of the oldest vegetables known to human being. It is used in a wide array of food preparations and recipes to add a specific flavor. There are different types of onions on the basis of their colors. The main two categories of onion are green onion and dry onion. Dry onions come in white, red or yellow color. Depending upon the variety, onion can be spicy, sharp, tangy and pungent or mild and sweet in taste. Nowadays, onions are available in fresh, canned, frozen, dehydrated or pickled forms. Onions can be used in a chopped or sliced form for preparing a number of recipes and salads. The onion slices are also used for garnishing. Onion possesses some medicinal properties, offering several health benefits. Onion is found to be effective to treat the medical conditions such as cold, diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis and other diseases. They contain the chemicals that are believed to have anticholesterol, anti-inflammatory, antioxidants and anticancer properties. In many countries, onion is used to heal boils and blisters. The products containing an onion extract are used to treat the topical scars. Onion offers blood sugar lowering effects, cardiovascular benefits, supports gastrointestinal health, offers a protection against many types of cancers and boosts the bone health.
Why do Onions Make You Cry?
A lot of people use onion in their daily cooking. You must have experienced that you shed tears while cutting the onion. You must be surprised that why do onions make you cry. It is because of certain chemicals present in the cells of onion. Like most other plants, onion is made of cells. These cells are separated by a membrane into two sections. One side of the membrane consists of enzymes, while other side contains the molecules that consist of sulphur compound. When you cut the onion, a number of onion cells break open and the contents of both sides of membrane mix together. The enzyme causes the sulphu
Source(s):
www.buzzle.com

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