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Onions - Sweet vs Yellow

spiceplace

spiceplace

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It was food week on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Yesterday, a fellow named Russ Parsons was on discussing onions. During the interview he basically says that sweet onions are great raw and tasteless cooked and it's better to use the good old yellow onions for making soups like French Onion Soup.

In the last 10 years I've almost always bought sweet onions, either Vidalia or Walla-Walla. I was thinking of doing a side by side test but was wondering if anyone had the same thoughts as Mr. Parsons?

Matt
 
We grow sweet onions, they are yellow granex It is the same onion as the Vidalia, most onion plants are grown in Texas.(Rio Grande Valley) Parsons in right sweet onions are better eaten raw or in something like bread or salad. Storage onions like the ones grown in the western states are more pungent. The high sugar content in sweet onions wont let them keep for long periods. CF
 
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Wow Chilefarmer, you are a real onion expert!

I've tried growing onions here in Maryland but they're only good fresh. Spring onions, and the like. They seem to grow too fast or something and end up 'light' in weight. I suppose you grow your granex in the winter, as I always see them in the seed catalogs as long day type?

If I remember correctly, on Fresh Air, they were discussing the reason onions make your eyes water and Parsons said it was a result of chain of chemical reactions that take place within a second of cutting the onion and one of those reactions cause sulfur like gasses to be released which either effect the eyes directly or through inhaling the fumes.

The point was that the sweet onions had less of the chemicals in them that cause this reaction. Those compounds also have the flavor, so regular onions would make more flavorful soups or lasagna. I was at the store tonight and forgot to buy some regular yellow onions to try out. I know that I've cut or cooked some yellow onions that have run us out of the house, which made me choose the sweet ones since then.
 
Not really, just a retired farmer. We set our onion plants in December or January. For fresh harvest with tops in May. Dry onions harvest in June or July, Depending on weather. Here is one of our onion fields. CF:)
Sweet Texas Onions
Sweet Onions.JPG
 
I love onions - all kinds. I prefer the sweeter ones for salads and "raw" dishes and I absolutely love that peppery punch the yellow onions have for cooking! When desperate- I'll eat a raw yellow onion - hey - eat it like an apple and it's good for clearing up a chest cold!
Spanish onions are nice to use for bloomin' onions or batter/breading - they are just over grown yellow onions without the punch.
Just don't wear any eye makeup or touch your face when peeling yellow onions.

Some have said that if you place your onions in the microwave for a minute or two they are easier to peel and have a milder flavor - but i don't believe in microwaves so I couldn't tell you.

You can halve the onion from top to root to help alleviate the pains (tears). Or run under warm water while peeling. Yu can also freeze your onions for 20 minutes so you don't cry.

Me - I just cry and peel.
 
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