Vidalia Onion Packing Day Announced, here they come!

[GoDawgs]

Every year the Georgia Ag folks and the onion growers get together, assess the crop and decide what date Packing Day will be. It's the first day Vidalia onions can legally be shipped. According to a piece I saw on an RFD TV farm report yesterday, it's done to protect the quality of the Vidalia brand from those who might jump the gun early with inferior onions. The grower being interviewed said that when the onions are pulled, they're left in the field in the sun for 5-6 days to dry out just a bit. If shipped before they're really ready the onions will be too watery and not hold up very well after purchase.

So April 12th is Packing Day and they'll be on their way across the country. I can't wait to grill some.

[Tormahto]

I can't wait either, as the imposters this past year (same variety grown elsewhere) have not been very good, nearly inedible raw. When the real Vidalia's come in, I'm thinking about cooking/sweating some, and then freezing them for later.

[worth1]

There are still too many people that don't really know what they are.
As I have mentioned in other threads.

[Tormahto]

I think by now, most people know, although they mistakenly believe that the off-season onions are "true" Vidalias. How do they know? From all of the popular Vidalia onion type salad dressings on the store shelves. About every 3 - 4 weeks I'll buy a 3-lb bag of Vidalias (even the fake ones), except the time of year when the green onions in the garden are in overdrive. When I see someone else picking up a bag at the same time that I am, I ask - "Vidalias?" The response is usually - "Those are the only onions I buy."

[GoDawgs]

Vidalias are harvested April through June and onions waiting to be shipped are put in controlled storage:

https://www.sweetonion.com/vidalia-swee ... roduction/

Some tips about hanbdling and storing Vidalias at home:

https://www.vidaliaonion.org/resources/ ... -handling/

[worth1]

I think by now, most people know, although they mistakenly believe that the off-season onions are "true" Vidalias. How do they know? From all of the popular Vidalia onion type salad dressings on the store shelves. About every 3 - 4 weeks I'll buy a 3-lb bag of Vidalias (even the fake ones), except the time of year when the green onions in the garden are in overdrive. When I see someone else picking up a bag at the same time that I am, I ask - "Vidalias?" The response is usually - "Those are the only onions I buy."

What I'm saying is that most people don't know that there isn't a variety of onion that is called Vidalia.
They are all of several types of hybrid granex onions developed in Texas.
The reason they are sweet is the lack of sulfur in the soil.
It's a marketing gimmick to sell sweet onions and a law to help stop counterfeiting onions I suppose.

Frankfurters can only be made and sold as such in Frankfurt Germany by German law.
Burgundy wine in France.

Vidalia sounds like one of those old names you never hear of anymore that you would name a girl.

Vidalia set that pet pig down get in here wash up and help your mother fix supper.
That would be using the hardy I sound.
But the name is of Spanish/Latin origin and the I has the e sound as in Veedalia with a y sound where the end is.
I personally think it's a beautiful name for a woman pronounced correctly.

[GoDawgs]

But the name is of Spanish/Latin origin and the I has the e sound as in Veedalia with a y sound where the end is.

I can just hear folks in Vy-dail-ee-uh roaring with laughter.

[worth1]

It is what it is.


https://www.google.com/search?q=Vidalia ... dpr=3#ip=1

[GoDawgs]

OK, I had to go look up the history of Vidalia to see how it came by the name. Wikipedia says that wasn't the original name.

"The original name for the town was Jenkins Station after a local landowner, Warren T. Jenkins.[9] Although several origins for the town's modern name have been suggested, it was most likely given by the daughter Samuel Hawkins, the president of the Savannah, Americus and Montgomery Railroad (later the S.A.M shortline),[9] though which of his four daughters suggested the name, or how she came to it, is not known."

Another site about visiting Vidalia says: "Although some suggest Vidalia may have been named “via dalia” (“road of dahlias”), it may have been named— like Vidalia, Louisiana — in honor of Don José Vidal, a Spanish aristocrat."

Yep, more than we need to know about the town of Vidalia. Back to onions!

[worth1]

The history of the onion in general as we know it is rather long a lengthy.
Bermuda comes to mind and it's what my father called white and yellow onions.

[worth1]

I found on line where they had the Vidalia onions for $36.95 for 5 pounds or some such thing.
Shipping included, well I hope so.
But you can get 10 pounds for $39.95.
Shipping is expensive these days and I'm sure they will sell out.
Farmers have to make a living too.

https://www.vidaliaonions.com/

[Tormahto]

The history of the onion in general as we know it is rather long a lengthy.
Bermuda comes to mind and it's what my father called white and yellow onions.

Up here, onions labeled Bermuda are the fairly large red/purple skinned ones. They are extremely SHARP in flavor.