Lots of Vidalia Varieties!

[GoDawgs]

@Tormato and I were discussing Vidalia onions. Out of curiosity I went looking for the approximate digging date and while exploring a few rabbit holes I found this site about trials used to evaluate onions grown as Vidalias which are mostly yellow grano/granex types. Trials were conducted by the U. of GA.

https://site.extension.uga.edu/vidaliao ... ety-trial/

At the bottom of the page is a chart listing varieties in the very early, early, medium, medium late and late categories. I've never heard of them. If you click on the chart you'll go to the slide show that gives the production ratings and rankings of the various varieties. They even trialed a red one! Who knew.

[Paulf]

Not being much of an onion eater or grower I have a question. Would a Vidalia onion grown in Nebraska taste the same as one grown in Georgia. Soil and climate differences tell me perhaps they would end up being very much different in flavor and maybe even size. Would each section of the country have its own special onion?

[Tormahto]

Not being much of an onion eater or grower I have a question. Would a Vidalia onion grown in Nebraska taste the same as one grown in Georgia. Soil and climate differences tell me perhaps they would end up being very much different in flavor and maybe even size. Would each section of the country have its own special onion?

My experience with those types of onions is that those that qualify as a Vidalia are nearly always very sweet. Those same types grown in other places are hit or miss for being sweet, let alone very sweet. Perhaps one could do research on amending the soil to maximize sweetness (if that's even possible). As a not very long storage onion, growing a lot for one's own use is not practical.

The largest flattest ones with the thickest rings always seemed to be the sweetest, to me. But, those likely have the thickest necks, which usually means the shortest storage ability. Can't win with Vidalias, other than greatly enjoying them for their fairly brief season.

[Tormahto]

Not being much of an onion eater or grower I have a question. Would a Vidalia onion grown in Nebraska taste the same as one grown in Georgia. Soil and climate differences tell me perhaps they would end up being very much different in flavor and maybe even size. Would each section of the country have its own special onion?

Not being much of an onion eater?

Tell El Portal to get some Vidalias in a couple of months.

[worth1]

Vidalia onions are what they are and you can grow a sweet onion anywhere as long as the soil is correct and low in sulfur.
Think of them like you would a frankfurter that according German law can only be called that if made in a particular section of Frankfurt.
Or the dreaded Hatch chilies.

[GoDawgs]

Not being much of an onion eater or grower I have a question. Would a Vidalia onion grown in Nebraska taste the same as one grown in Georgia. Soil and climate differences tell me perhaps they would end up being very much different in flavor and maybe even size. Would each section of the country have its own special onion?

Probably but still different from each other. Vidalis in Georgia, Walla Walla in SE Washington, Maui onions in Hawaii, Texas 1015Y (TX Supersweet) all have their claims to fame.

Unlike frankfurters, you have to have the right soil and growing conditions to get these sweet onions... unless there's some claim in Frankfurt that it's their water or meat that makes their frankfurters special. I think there are some long term pizzerias in NYC that claim it's the NYC water that makes their pizzas so good. Then there's the gas fired-wood fired-coal fired oven controversy but I digress.....

[Paulf]

Not being much of an onion eater or grower I have a question. Would a Vidalia onion grown in Nebraska taste the same as one grown in Georgia. Soil and climate differences tell me perhaps they would end up being very much different in flavor and maybe even size. Would each section of the country have its own special onion?

Not being much of an onion eater?

Tell El Portal to get some Vidalias in a couple of months.

How do you know that at El Portal is the only place onions are OK? They must have some special hold over me.

[Tormahto]

Not being much of an onion eater or grower I have a question. Would a Vidalia onion grown in Nebraska taste the same as one grown in Georgia. Soil and climate differences tell me perhaps they would end up being very much different in flavor and maybe even size. Would each section of the country have its own special onion?

Probably but still different from each other. Vidalis in Georgia, Walla Walla in SE Washington, Maui onions in Hawaii, Texas 1015Y (TX Supersweet) all have their claims to fame.

Unlike frankfurters, you have to have the right soil and growing conditions to get these sweet onions... unless there's some claim in Frankfurt that it's their water or meat that makes their frankfurters special. I think there are some long term pizzerias in NYC that claim it's the NYC water that makes their pizzas so good. Then there's the gas fired-wood fired-coal fired oven controversy but I digress.....

It's ALWAYS...

[Tormahto]

Not being much of an onion eater or grower I have a question. Would a Vidalia onion grown in Nebraska taste the same as one grown in Georgia. Soil and climate differences tell me perhaps they would end up being very much different in flavor and maybe even size. Would each section of the country have its own special onion?

Not being much of an onion eater?

Tell El Portal to get some Vidalias in a couple of months.

How do you know that at El Portal is the only place onions are OK? They must have some special hold over me.

Meatloaf told me.

[worth1]

Someone from Georgia living in Alaska told me someone in Alaska was growing Vidalia onions.
Then I had to tell the poor guy it wasn't a variety but a location that made the delightful things.

[edweather]

Hey thanks for the link. I usually grow a few Granex yellows every year. The only onion I'll eat. Mine are getting ready to bulb.

20230225_081642.jpg

[karstopography]

We cook with onions a lot. I’m growing various onions currently. Sometimes, I’ll eat onions raw too. The Peruvian flat sweet onions seem fine. I like our Texas Sweet ones also. They all seem to have that basic onion flavor and bite with various amounts of sweet added in. Onions improve a lot of recipes. I can’t say I’ve ever done a side by side taste off with a vidalia, walla walla, 1015, or anything like that.

[Tormahto]

Hey thanks for the link. I usually grow a few Granex yellows every year. The only onion I'll eat. Mine are getting ready to bulb. 20230225_081642.jpg

The question weather, is whether you are growing Vidalia onions, or not. I haven't seen a detailed map, but they are grown in 13 counties, and another 7 partial counties, in southeast Georgia. That's unless they've let other counties in, recently.

[edweather]

Yellow Granex are Vidalias. I know there is a big thing about it down here. Like, you can only sell them after a certain date, etc. All I know is that we buy bags of "Vidalia's" in season, and you can't tell the difference in look or taste from what we grow. So as far as we're concerned, it's the same onion, grown 2 hours away from Vidalia GA, and in different soil.

[Tormahto]

I received my email message from the Vidalia association, the week of April 24th is the shipping time. Woo Hoo!

[Tormahto]

Well, sweet onions came in locally sometime around a week ago, but not labeled Vidalia.

The source was Bland Farms, which is in Vidalia country. My guess is that they jumped the gun, knew they couldn't ship with the Vidalia label for many more days, so bagged them with a different label. Perhaps one of their fields was ready before the rest of Georgia? I just hope they weren't out to undercut the other growers, who waited to ship.

I look at it, same onion, different label, lower price ($2.99/3 pounds). Last year, real Vidalias went for $4.48/3 pounds.

Time for meatloaf.

[Julianna]

Well, sweet onions came in locally sometime around a week ago, but not labeled Vidalia.

The source was Bland Farms, which is in Vidalia country. My guess is that they jumped the gun, knew they couldn't ship with the Vidalia label for many more days, so bagged them with a different label. Perhaps one of their fields was ready before the rest of Georgia? I just hope they weren't out to undercut the other growers, who waited to ship.

I look at it, same onion, different label, lower price ($2.99/3 pounds). Last year, real Vidalias went for $4.48/3 pounds.

Time for meatloaf.

This is when it pays too recognize plants!

[MarkAndre]

I grew Granex in a SIP in North Texas. Can’t remember if any went in the ground.
Everything went in a pot for not-Vidalia onion relish, the key ingredient to my favorite hot dog, the Georgia Dog. I added sugar. No complaints here.