I really mean it – when you cook with onions, save the skins (yes, the papery outer portion) and make a TEA out of them! There are amazing health benefits to drinking onion tea…and don’t worry, I drank it a few weeks ago when a friend found this recipe and it surprisingly mild and tastes basically a nice broth…it doesn’t even really taste like onions at all!
Here’s what you do: place the onion skins in a glass, pour boiling water over the top, then let steep for around 7-10 minutes, then drink!
Here the benefits: Onion skins contain zinc, quercetin (the antioxidant that helps drive zinc into your cells to be utilized by the immune system), it’s full of phytochemicals and antioxidants which help your immune system and your skin, too. Onion skin tea can help prevent bacteria growth in the stomach, along with antibacterial qualities throughout your body. Another great benefit it that it can help babies with colic, obviously you’d let it cool to a normal bottle temp before giving it to a baby. Onion tea is full of B vitamins (B1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 9), Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, and Folic Acid.
All in all, it’s a simple healthy tea you can make for yourself from something you’d normally throw in the trash can. Plus, you can even use the onion skins again with more hot water even up to 3 times and still get benefits.