Sweet onions have a mild sweet flavor and cause less eye irritation.
Sweet onions are tasty on sandwiches, in sweet summer salads, grilled and even roasted. Sweet onion varieties have a sweet, mild flavor credited to the high sugar and water content and the low sulfur and pyruvic-acid content, as opposed to non-sweet onion varieties. Sweet onions also cause less eye irritation than non-sweet onions, making sweet onions easier to chop and prepare.
Vidalia Onion
Vidalia onions -- named for Vidalia, Georgia, where the onion was developed in 1931 -- are only grown in the state of Georgia. During the mid-1980s, knowing they had an unusual produce commodity on their hands, Georgia onion farmers joined together to petition the state and federal government for brand protection. In 1986, the Georgia state legislature granted legal protection in the form of a trademarked name, which disallowed onions grown in other states to carry the name Vidalia. The Vidalia Onion Trademark Act also named the 20 county area allowed to grow and lay claim to growing the Vidalia onion. The same onion, the yellow granex hybrid, grown in areas other than the 20 named counties could not carry the Vidalia name. The onion gains its sweetness from being grown in sandy soils depleted of sulfur from South Georgia's abundant rainfalls. Vidalia seeds are planted in September of each year and harvested around the middle of the following April.
Texas 1015 Onion
This sweet onion was first cultivated by a professor of horticulture at Texas A&M University, Dr. Leonard Pike, and was formulated to be super-sweet and disease resistant. This variety of onion gains its name from the onion's ideal planting date, which is October 15, and is harvested from the beginning of March to the middle of July. This onion is also only grown in one geographic location, the South Texas Rio Grande Valley, due to the fact that it was developed to meet specific South Texas growing conditions.
Walla Walla Onion
Over-sized and round, the Walla Walla onion is known for its jumbo shape and sweet flavor. The Walla Walla onion acquired its name when Peter Pieri, a French soldier, found the seeds of a sweet onion on the Island of Corsica and took the seeds to Walla Walla, Washington, where he settled. This exceptionally large, round, sweet onion is accessible from the middle of June until August or early September. The high water content of the onion, rich, low-sulfur content of the soil and temperate climate of Walla Walla, Washington, are all components that result in the onion's sweetness.
Sweet Imperial Onion
A Sweet Imperial onion must meet certain criteria in order to lay claim to the name Sweet Imperial. This onion acquires its name from Southern California's Imperial Valley, where it is grown. Sweet Imperials must have yellow skin, a large globe shape and be no less than 2 ½ inches in overall diameter. Sweet Imperials, like most sweet onions, are planted in fall, grown in winter and harvested in spring. The harvest time for the Sweet Imperial lasts from around the end of April through June.
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