The genus allium— part 1

Abstract

Allium is a genus of some 500 species belonging to the family Liliaceae. However, only a few of these are important as food plants, notably, onion, garlic, chive, leek, and rakkyo. Such plants have been used for many centuries for their pungency and flavoring value and for their medicinal properties, and in some parts of the world their use also has religious connotations. The flavors of members of the genus Allium, in addition to being characteristic are also complex, being derived enzymically from a number of involatile precursors. As well as there being variation of flavor between different alliums there are also considerable changes that occur as a result of cooking and processing. These are of course of importance to the consumer and food technologist/processor. The review will introduce the subject by an historical perspective and will set against this data on the present cultivation and usage of commercially cultivated alliums. The chemical composition of these plants will be discussed, emphasis being given to nonvolatile constituents which are perhaps less often considered. Discussion of the volatile constituents, which will include mention of the methods currently used for their analysis and for the determination of “flavor strength”, will be mainly concerned with literature taken from the last 5 years. In considering the extent and nature of allium cultivation and processing, factors affecting the nutritional value and quality will be highlighted. The medicinal properties of garlic and onion oils have been much studied over the last decade and the review will include critical assessment of this area and also will touch on the more general properties (antimicrobial, antifungal, antibacterial, and insecticidal) of these oils. Finally, mention will be made of the antinutritional, toxic, or otherwise undersirable effects of alliums, for example, as inadvertant components of animal diets, tainting of milk and other food products. It is our intention to review the literature up to mid 1984.