If you 'caramelize' an onion, does an onion contain sugar?

I love the taste of lightly fried sliced onion. I've heard this referred to as 'caramelizing' the onion.
Is there sugar in the layers of an onion that is changed to caramel, or is this just a phrase?
My question is: If you 'caramelize' an onion, do they contain sugar?
Best Answer
Yes, onions contain sugar, just like most fruit and vegetables. It is not simply a common phrase, it is true caramelization.
They have 4.24 g of sugar per 100 g in total (wet weight). For dry weight 40% is sugar. See the USDA nutrient database for more details.
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Quick Answer about "If you 'caramelize' an onion, does an onion contain sugar?"
Onions are naturally sweet; and as caramel comes from the simple cooking of sugar when you slowly cook onions over an extended period of time, the natural sugars in the onions caramelize, making the result intensely and wonderfully flavorful.Do caramelized onions have more sugar?
100 grams of raw onion won't contain much sugar at all. But if you cook onions for a long time, you will evaporate a lot of moisture, thereby increasing sugar content by weight significantly. Thus, 100 grams of caramelized onions will definitely increase the sugar content of a dish.Do onions have sugar when cooked?
Carbohydrates make up about 9\u201310% of both raw and cooked onions. They consist mostly of simple sugars, such as glucose, fructose, and sucrose, as well as fiber.Do onions have natural sugar?
Yes, onions contain sugar, just like most fruit and vegetables. It is not simply a common phrase, it is true caramelization. They have 4.24 g of sugar per 100 g in total (wet weight).BIGBANG - TOUR REPORT 'IF YOU' IN BANGKOK
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Answer 2
Onion does contain sugars when raw, but they are pretty much indigestible and tasteless. Cellulose (vegetable fiber), for example, is a complex carbohydrate which only ruminants can digest with the aid of bacteria in their stomach.
With caramelization, complex sugars in onion split into simpler ones, which are the ones we can taste, by the action of heat. Therefore, fried onion tastes sweeter, and so does tomato, etc.
When sugar cane crops are ready to be harvested, dry leaves are burnt in situ in order to increase the yield of sucrose by the same effect: a fraction of the existing complex sugars are turned into sucrose (saccharose).
Answer 3
The answer is: An onion contains sugar whether you "caramelize" it or not. "Caramelizing" an onion (or anything else) helps to emphasize the natural sweetness of the onion. You're basically cooking off the water in the onion and concentrating the sugars.
Answer 4
Onions are very sugary. People eat so much sugar these days however, that they don't notice. When someone does something like the atkin's diet or similar, they begin to taste how sweet all those veg really are.
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