On June 22nd, National Onion Rings Day recognizes a batter-dipped, deep-fried bite of deliciousness that runs rings around other appetizers.
Also found in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and some parts of Asia, onion rings’ exact origin are unknown.
- 5000 BC – The oldest known cultivation of onion dates back to around 5,000 BCE.
- 3000 BC – In ancient Egypt, onions were worshiped. Ancient Egyptians believed that concentric rings and the spherical shape of the onions were symbols of eternity.
- 1802 – John Mollard writes a recipe for ‘Fried Onions with Parmesan Cheese’ in his cookbook “The Art of Cookery Made Easy and Refined.”
- 1865 – General Ulysses S. Grant told the federal government, “I will not move my army without onions!”
- 1910 – Some believe that a recipe for French Fried Onions (not claiming to be the originator of the recipe) appeared in the Middletown, NY Daily Times on January 13, 1910.
- 1920s – The Pig Stand restaurant chain, established in Oak Cliff, Texas in the early 1920s, is one of the claimants of the onion ring invention.
- 1933 – A recipe for deep-fried onion rings dipped in milk and then dredged in flour appeared in a 1933 Crisco advertisement in The New York Times Magazine.
- 1960s – Onion rings become popular when added to menus of A&W Restaurants.
- 1987 – Spaceballs: The Animated Series produced an episode called “Lord of the Onion Rings.”
- 2015 – A meta-analysis done in 2015 shows that onions play a vital role in reducing the risk of gastric cancer.
- 2017 – Culver’s served 9,326,744 orders of Onion Rings. That’s more Onion Rings than there are people in Culver’s home state of Wisconsin!
- The US produces more than 2 million metric tons of onions annually.
- Americans consume 20 pounds of onion rings per person annually.
- China is the world’s largest producer of onions.
- The per capita onion consumption of Libya per year is a whopping 66.8 pounds.
- Eating parsley will help get rid of onion breath.
- The fastest time to peel 50 pounds of onions is 2 minutes 39 seconds.
- Outback Steakhouse’s Bloomin’ Onion has 1948 calories and 160 grams of fat.
- One onion ring ends up in every Burger King order of fries. This serves to remind customers that BK offers more options than McDonald’s.
- Most of Culver’s white onions come from the Treasure Valley region of Idaho and Oregon, where approximately 21,000 acres of onions are planted every year.
- Onion is considered to have antiseptic properties, and hence, it was heavily used during war times to heal wounds.
- The risk of several types of cancer such as ovarian cancer, laryngeal cancer, colorectal cancer, etc. can be reduced significantly by consuming up to 7 servings of onions per week. Onions have Quercetin – a very potent anti-cancer agent.
- McDonald’s briefly sold their own version of the onion ring, the onion nugget, but they were unsuccessful.
- Burger King’s onion rings don’t actually contain real onions. They are made of breading with dehydrated onion and onion powder.
- There are many variations of breading, but the two most popular are either flour-based or breadcrumb-based.
- Elba, New York is known as the onion capital of the world.
- California produces more onions than any other state.
- Libya consumes more onions per capita than any other country.
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