What Happened to Vidalia Sweet Onions?

[Zipper]

For many years we looked forward to Vidalia Sweets and you could count on a mild great tasting product that you could almost eat like an apple.

For the last 2 or 3 years you might as well buy any off-the-shelf onion from anywhere. Somebody or some company has compromised the product and more often than not they are definitely not what they used to be.

We no longer buy Vidalia onions.

We do find Texas Sweet to be the real product and have switched permanently.

It's just like maple syrup. You make a quality product year after year and the label means something.

 

[Mwsinron]

About a month/2months ago we got some Vidalia in the supermarket. They were horrible compared to the year before. Viadlia I believe is just from the Georgia area because of the soil not a particular company. Maybe they had a bad crop?

 

[haha]

You don't make onions, you grow them. So growing conmditions may have been poor this year.
Or the ones you ate may have been stored too long, or whatever.

I don't remember any problem with the ones I ate, and I love sweet onions.

Ha

 

[riskadverse]

Don't know about Vidalias, but modern processing sometimes dictiates the qualities of vegtables.  The modern tomatoe has been engineered to take a 10mph impact when handled by machinery.  It seems that this quality and taste aren't that compatible.  

 

[Mwsinron]

Head to your local farmers market. Nothing beats fresh picked products in my book. We hit the market every Sunday morning during the summer and stockup for the week really super duper good!

 

[Leonidas]

We no longer buy Vidalia onions.

We do find Texas Sweet to be the real product and have switched permanently

That's because the Vidalia onion originated from transplants of the Texas Granex onion. The original has been improved on since then (1952).

http://plantanswers.tamu.edu/publications/onions/onionhis.html

 

[Marshac]

We just get walla walla sweets here.... I don't know if I would eat them like an apple though. Whoa!

 

[Danny]

Got some Vidalias at Trader Joes a week ago - nobody got up from the table and sang any hallelujahs but they were good and sweet.

 

[Mwsinron]

Got some Vidalias at Trader Joes a week ago - nobody got up from the table and sang any hallelujahs but they were good and sweet.

Great cheese at Trader Joes! Plus they got that nice Yellowtail wine. DW and I love that stuff.

 

[Danny]

Great cheese at Trader Joes! Plus they got that nice Yellowtail wine. DW and I love that stuff.

Great cheeses....great prices...We like the Black Mountain Zinfandel alot....for $5.99 we're getting a really good wine...

 

[unclemick]

Hmmm

Walla Walla and Vidalia I've eaten - Texas?? - not yet.

Call me an old phart but I like the plain old grilled - yellow, white, or red - the eyewatering kind with zip. Especially on a sirloin burger with ketchup.

heh heh heh

 

[Mwsinron]

Hmmm

Walla Walla  and Vidalia I've eaten - Texas?? - not yet.

Call me an old phart but I like the plain old grilled - yellow, white, or red - the eyewatering kind with zip. Especially on a sirloin burger with ketchup.

heh heh heh

Pretty good UMick. Sweeter for sure alot more sugar in them but not overly. IF you get a chance give them a whirl. Specially if you dig onions. Shelf life on them is short due to the sugar content verse a red or yellow storage onion.

 

[Dawg52]

I had a blooming onion the another night at Outback. Those are vidalia's, aren't they? Sure was good with my cold beer.    Outback has to be my favorite chain restaurant.

 

[Texas Proud]

I had not heard of Vadalias until a few years ago... love them..

I do remember that there was someone who came up with a rating scale for them... that is because it is the land that gives them thier flavor.. if you planted them anywhere else, they are just an ordinary onion.. so this guy saw there were good crops and bad crops... so he wanted to know which ones were good... BUT, the growing community nixed the idea or rating them... said ANY vadalia is a vadalia... so we do not have the ratings...

I have never seen the others... I will have to start to look... I like the sweets a lot better than the strong yellows or whites.. they can take paint off the wall!!

 

[sailor]

We live 150 miles from Vidalia,GA, are using Vidalias regulary and I haven't noticed any deterioration (but we typically buy our onions from farmers markets, frequently organic ones).
We had drought problems in last two seasons, but the taste was not affected in the ones we buy.
I'll ask Mrs. Sailor, who is a gourmet chef in our house.

 

[tangomonster]

Zipper, I thought it was just me---that my taste buds were decreasing with age or that I was just too cheap to appreciate and pay for the difference between Vidalia and
regular onions. Glad to know I'm not alone, but wish they had kept the quality up....

 

[Marshac]

I still like the sweet onions over the caustic white onions... they are easier on my eyes while cutting. Supposedly if you light a candle next to the cutting area while processing onions, it won't sting your eyes........ I have tried this before....... it doesn't work, although it adds a little ambiance to the kitchen.

Are there any tricks to prevent tears that do work?

 

[HFWR]

Use a sharp knife, and chop real fast...

 

[Leonidas]

I still like the sweet onions over the caustic white onions... they are easier on my eyes while cutting. Supposedly if you light a candle next to the cutting area while processing onions, it won't sting your eyes........ I have tried this before....... it doesn't work, although it adds a little ambiance to the kitchen.

Are there any tricks to prevent tears that do work?

Do it near the sink, and if you start to tear up just run your hands under cold running water until your eyes clear. I've also heard you can cut the onion under running water or put the onion in the freezer for ten minutes before chopping - but i've never bothered to try those.

 

[Marshac]

Use a sharp knife, and chop real fast... 

I lost about 1/8" of my thumb that way....

 

[Nords]

Are there any tricks to prevent tears that do work?

Cut onions release a gas of the class of "lachrymators". They're chemicals that make your eyes water, and I guess it's how onions defend themselves from herbivores.

You either have to keep the gas away from your face (nose & eyes) or you have to filter it out. The best ways are to blow a fan over the cutting board (pointing away from you!), to cut outdoors or on a breezy lanai, to cut the onion under water (or under running water, although that's difficult), or to wear a charcoal-filter respirator. I've seen sailors cutting onions wearing gas masks or emergency air-breathing masks. Needless to say they were happy but the rest of the mess decks emptied out quickly.

You could also practice more onion-cutting and see if your body develops a tolerance. This seems to work better if it's lubricated with beer...

 

[mickeyd]

We do find Texas Sweet to be the real product and have switched permanently.

Agree 100%. I think that these are called Texas 1014's. We use them all the time and consider them superior to Videlia's.

 

[Texas Proud]

Agree 100%. I think that these are called Texas 1014's. We use them all the time and consider them superior to Videlia's.

AHHH... yes, the 1014s are good... except they are not year round....

And the trivia question.. why are they called 1014

 

[astromeria]

I just go ahead and chop the onions and have a good cry. I rarely cry so it probably clears the "pipes"!

 

[mickeyd]

And the trivia question.. why are they called 1014

I once knew the answer to that Q however it has escaped my brain since that time.

My guess: It took the Aggies 1015 tries to  get it right.