The Latin names reveal it all: Onions (lat. Allium cepa) and garlic (lat. Allium sativum) are related, both belonging to the lily family. Both are originally from Western or rather Central Asia and have been valued there for centuries as medicinal plants and spices. Garlic, for example, has been used in China as a medicinal plant since about 3000 BC. And there is also evidence that the onion was already being cultivated before 1000 BC. In Ancient Times, and especially in Egypt, it was revered as holy and added, similar to garlic, to the grave goods of the pharaohs. The bulbed plants reached Europe via the Mediterranean, and it was the Romans who finally brought the onion and probably also garlic over the Alps, where they have been widely cultivated as staple crops and medicinal plants ever since.
