Sweet onion

Sweet onion is a variety of onion that is not pungent. There are several varieties of sweet onion. Although all onions have sugar, sweet onions have a very low sulfur content as compared to typical onions. Also, the water content is comparatively very high. These differences emphasize the sweetness of the onion.

Origins in the Americas

American sweet onions appear to have originated in two places, both around the year 1900.

Texas

The Bermuda onion was first harvested in Texas in 1898, with seeds imported from Bermuda. The first harvest was sent primarily to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where they were very well received, prompting Texas to increase the acreage used for growing the onion. The three main breeds grown in Texas around the turn of the century were the Yellow Bermuda, the White Bermuda, and the Crystal Wax.

Walla Walla

The Walla Walla Sweet Onion originated on the island of Corsica, off the west coast of Italy. A French soldier named Peter Pieri found an Italian sweet onion seed and brought it to the Walla Walla Valley around 1900.

Impressed by the new onion's winter hardiness, Pieri, and the Italian immigrant farmers who comprised much of Walla Walla's gardening industry, harvested the seed. The sweet onion developed over several generations through the process of carefully hand selecting onions from each year's crop, ensuring exceptional sweetness, jumbo size and round shape.

Other American varieties

Vidalia Onion

A Vidalia onion is a sweet onion of certain varieties, grown in a production area defined by law in Georgia and by the United States Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). The varieties include the hybrid yellow granex, varieties of granex parentage, or other similar varieties recommended by the Vidalia Onion Committee and approved by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.

The onions were first grown near Vidalia, Georgia in the early 1930s.

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