Peruvian sweet onions are back!

Bought some Peruvian Gold onions this week at Caputo's.

Most recently been using Mayan Sweets from Dominick's. Compared the two last night, Mayan's had seemed nice until they were tasted right next to Peruvian Gold. Now the Mayan hardly seemed sweet at all

I sometimes think Peruvian Gold is my #1 favorite sweet onion, even over Vidalias. It may or may not be true, it may be just such a sweet relief after months of no Vidalias.

I imagine other markets besides Caputo's has these. I've seen them at Butera in years past. Perhaps most "fresh market" type places get them, I don't know.

Hope this isn't a boring post, but would feel sorry for sweet onion fans not aware of Peruvian sweet onions.

Nancy

Nancy Sexton wrote:Hope this isn't a boring post

Nancy,

Hardly boring! I'm glad to know that they're available. Lately, all I've seen at Marketplace on Oakton or Lincolnwood Produce are some crappy looking Hermiston Sweets which I think are still left over from the late summer. I've been sticking to regular Spanish onions.

I'll definitely look out for the Peruvians, and I'll head to Caputo's if I don't see them in my normal haunts. Thanks!

Best,
Michael

They were selling sacks of them in Trader Joe's last week too. (Are they always on the small side? These were much smaller than Vidalias.)

The slogan on the bag is: "They'll only make you cry when they're gone."

What do you do with these really sweet onions?? I've only tried a couple (well, three, actually) varieties: Vidalia, Walla Walla somethings and Texas [some number]. They sure were sweet, I grant that absolutely; almost sugary.

But when I tried to use them as replacements for yellow Spanish in a few recipes, I always found them TOOO sweet, and a distraction from the dish I was used to.

Obviously, what we have here is a failure of imagination on my part. What *should* I have tried to do with them? (I'm not sure they're available up here in Montreal, but I'll be back in KC by the time their season commences, so it would be neat to try something new with them.)

Tnx,

Geo

Geo,

Maybe you don't like sweet onions.

I use sweet onions whenever I use onions if I can. Unless I carmelize them, I never find them too sweet.

But if you have, you may just like a different onion flavor than me and other sweet onion fans.

Nancy

Geo...

One of my favorite lazy summer vegetable dishes is raw sliced sweet onions and sliced tomatoes with Peter Luger steak sauce.

...

Why do I post about stuff here if it only makes me hungry for things that I don't currently have in my fridge?

Geo wrote:But when I tried to use them as replacements for yellow Spanish in a few recipes, I always found them TOOO sweet, and a distraction from the dish I was used to...

They certainly don't work for everything. I like them in sautees and stir-fries, because I can cook them for less time and have them remain a little crisp.

They truly don't work in Indian cooking: there's too much water and sugar, and they don't produce the thick sauce needed for a lot of those dishes.

Raw? It depends on what I'm using them for. While I like them, a thin slice of red onion is often tastier on a burger or salad.

Geo wrote:But when I tried to use them as replacements for yellow Spanish in a few recipes, I always found them TOOO sweet, and a distraction from the dish I was used to...

My primary use for sweet onions is for raw eating. I'd say 90% of them wind up in salads. This usually occurs in the summer when Vidalias and local tomatoes are plentiful. During this time, I make the following salad quite often before a meal at home:

--1 sweet onion (Vidalias preferred), sliced in "crescents", with the grain. The slicing method is important.

--2 medium tomatoes, sliced in half moons, about 1/4" thick. Use good, fresh tomatoes only. Fresh heirlooms are preferred.

--A couple tablespoons of good olive oil.

--A splash of a good vinegar of your choice (sometimes I use a balsamic, sometimes a good white wine vinegar).

--A healthy pinch of good, coarse salt. Morton's Kosher works fine.

--A few turns of freshly ground black pepper.

Mix, let it all rest for 10 minutes or so.

Optional variation: Add aome crumbled tangy, white cheese just before eating. Greek feta or a chevre work well.

Enjoy.

Best,
Michael

Tnx to all of you. This is starting to make sense. Obviously the sweet onions *must* vary a bit in physical composition, else they wouldn't have the chemical (! or is it biological ?!) composition that they do. So that's one reason they wouldn't cook the same way as my Spanish onions.

On the other hand, being able to use them raw or lightly cooked, as for stir-fries, would make sense as well. The salad sounds good.

I'll have to give these suggestions a try when the Vidalias come back in season. Interesting about the red Bermuda onion on the burger, tho'. I know *exactly* how that flavor goes, and it'll be interesting to taste the Vidalia vs. Bermuda side-by-side.

Something else occurred to me, too, that maybe is connected: I don't like super-sweet corn either! I'm always looking for the old-fashioned stuff, which is getting harder and harder to find. Give me 'Golden Bantam' or 'Country Gentleman' any day.

Tnx for all the info!

Geo

Geo wrote:Obviously the sweet onions *must* vary a bit in physical composition, else they wouldn't have the chemical (! or is it biological ?!) composition that they do.

The claim is that the soil in Vidalia county, GA is uniquely low in sulfur, resulting in a superior onion flavor. So why are the sweet onions from Texas, Walla-Walla, Maui, Peru... so similar?

Another factor is the onion width. I think it was the Frugal Gourmet that had pointed this out: almost the same total 'strength' of onion is found in a scallion and a full-grown white onion. The more width to height, the less harshness will be in the onion, as it's spread out over a greater area.

Breeding is certainly part of it. Places like Texas A&M (home of the Texas 1010 onion) work on developing new varieties.

JoelF wrote:The claim is that the soil in Vidalia county, GA is uniquely low in sulfur, resulting in a superior onion flavor. So why are the sweet onions from Texas, Walla-Walla, Maui, Peru... so similar?

Perhaps that claim is more marketing hype than actual fact...or perhaps low sulfer content soil is not as uncommon as the folks in Vidalia County would have you believe.

It's genetics, not soil. You market soil when there's nothing much else to distinguish what you grow from what the guy down the road grows. It's amazing how frequently the terroir changes in a place as small as Alsace. I know a bunch of winegrowers there, and am always amazed when they tell me, with a straight face, how different *their* soil is, as compared to the guy next door.

Anyway, I messed around a bit with google, and found the main USDA lab working with onions. It's in Madison, nicely enough:

http://haveylab.hort.wisc.edu/

It's a nice site, and like most crop labs I'm familiar with, everybody enjoys their work. A lot.

Geo

Per low sulphur soil:

I've been wondering for a few years just how many people saw the Good Eats on sweet onions. He sure says it has to do with sulphur and backs it up with all that science.

Not long following that there was such an increase in sweet onion availability. Following Vidalias and other American sweet onions, there were Mayan Sweets, then the Peruvian ones came in, and I'll bet again this year, before the vidalias but after Peruvians, will be various Mexican sweet onions. No tag names on those yet, just the basic sweet onion tag number. Then we'll be back to Vidalias.

My opinion is farmers went and tested their soil, and if it was low enough in sulphur, went and replanted their fields with onions, particularly if they knew their crop would come in when we had none from USA.

As you can see I follow sweet onions. I love them.

Personally I have never thought an onion too sweet but I have found them too sharp.

Too watery? Hadn't noticed.

I will also admit that we often saute our sweet onions hot enough (and no stir) to put a little carmelization on them. We love that too.

Follow your palate, seems the new message of this thread.

Nancy

Hi Nancy--

Sounded interesting, something I should know, so I went to the "Good Eats" site and searched for several combos of "sweet onions" and "onions" but didn't get any results. Might there be something better for me to search under?

Geo

The best resource for Good Eats stuff is the Good Eats Fan Page.

A Bowl of Onion transcript at GEFP.

Tnx gleam, makes for interesting reading. The Origin Story from the transcript goes like this:

" Once upon a time—well, 1931— a local farmer named, Mose Coleman, made a discovery. He noticed that some of his onion crop tasted different, sweet instead of hot. Now he harvested the onions, passed them out to family, friends and neighbors and they started planting them and replanting them over the years until eventually they developed a whole new onion, now known as the F1 Granix Hybrid."

Fun story. But something bothered me: F1 hybrids don't 'develop' over the years by selection; they're created in a lab. So that led me to see whether or not I could find another, and different, Origin Story. Lo! and behold, here it is:

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/Plan ... onhis.html

Interesting points of divergence here.

Nonetheless, whatever the origin, we've got a distinctive kind of onion that offers some distinctive possibilities, some of which have been suggested here already. And for which, let us give thanks!

Geo