Know Your Onions

This is good info and I like the way it is presented. I recently made a beef pho that I love and used a sweet onion. I was disappointed and realized that my sack of onions was the sweet Valdivia. I love when they come out and use them in many dishes but pho will not be one of them again.

I had a similar experience once when I mistook leeks for exceptionally large scallions. Way too fibrous.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

I don't entirely agree with this chart. First of all my favorite onion isn't even listed. I go through at least 5 lbs of onions a month and I have for years bought all my onions at only one store, Haggen. The onions are a sweet variety grown in Washington and have very pale, flakey-papery thin skins. None of the other local stores--Fred Meyer, Whole Foods, Safeway (which owns Haggen) carries this onion. They're delightful, and as good raw in salads as they are useful in cooking. Until I moved here and started buying these exclusively, white onions were my favorite because I found them mild enough for raw/salad use. (Let's face it, they're all fine for cooking. Raw is another story.) Haggen isn't my primary place to shop, but when I am low on onions? It's time to go to Haggen.

About a month ago my onions disappeared. I'm distraught. So I'm back to buying white onions. Which means I'm also back to smelling onions when I choose them. Within batches available at any one time, some will give off a strong odor and some have none and of course I never buy any that have a strong odor.

What is this oh nyon of which you speak? (...His Majesty won't eat them so I have not used them in years...)

Jenise, are you referring to Walla Walla onions? We get them here at a certain time of year. They are great for many applications.

[Jenise]

They're not labeled Walla Walla (in Washington, you'd think...but I digress) but surely that's the onion I love. And it's neither a brown onion nor a yellow onion. And brown onions labeled 'sweet' are never sweet. Very pale in color, thin flakey skin, squat not round.