Onions and garlic are staples in creating tasty sauces and soups, but scientists recently discovered that their powers extend far beyond the culinary realm.
Onions and garlic are staples in creating tasty sauces and soups, but scientists recently discovered that their powers extend far beyond the culinary realm.
Indian biotechnologists found the Allium plants can also filter heavy metal toxins like the ones left behind from a myriad of factory-generated industrial waste.
The ones they used in their experiments had been gathered from food canning processes.
The team put the leftovers to the test in environments containing all sorts of contaminants like lead, tin, iron, arsenic, cadmium and mercury.
The heavy metal toxins were combined in different amounts and mixtures.
Onions and garlic were then left to steep in the solutions for varying amounts of time while the researchers tinkered with Ph balances, temperatures, and contact time.
At times the success rate was as high as about 70 percent absorption of the metals.
Even better, the onion and garlic mixes were deemed reusable.
Not for cooking, of course, but ready to take another turn at toxin fighting.
In addition to being generally effective for the job, the scientists declared the flavoring favorites a viable option for industrial applications.
It was also noted that entire process was highly cost-effective.
