From Fred Spier, University of Amsterdam
It is not only along seashores where the healing powers of onions are well known
(Feedback, 5 September, p 88). I discovered this in the late 1980s, while
living in a Peruvian village high in the Andes as part of my anthropological
research.
Andean peasants like their parties, and (like many of us) their booze. During
one such event on a cold night, I tried to start my little petrol stove. Because
I was in a questionable condition, my left hand got severely burnt. Some local
women immediately applied thin monocellular skins of red onions that can be
peeled off between the thicker layers, and told me this would help me heal very
quickly. I had to leave them on for at least one night.
And so it happened. Later, back in the Netherlands, I found that yellow and
white onions have a similar effect.
