Farm Happenings at Jade Family Farm
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grow onions, not bunions

Posted on July 28th, 2019 by John Eisenstein

Hello!  We started on the main onion harvest the other day.  Pictured above is some of the harvest curing in the barn.  Up until now, you've been getting fresh sweet onions, since they are the first to mature and do not store well.  Now that the other types will be available in a week or two, I'd like to talk about the differences between varieties for a bit.

Sweet Onions are sweet and mild.  Good for about anything.  Alas, they are almost gone.

White Onions are also quite mild in terms of sulfur (the sulfur compounds in onions are the things that make you cry), but with a good (if reserved) flavor and not as sweet.  My favorite kind.

Red Onions are high in sulfur with a robust flavor, and about as sweet as the white onions. My friend Ben, who for years operated the "El Gringo" taco truck, told me that in Mexico, they use almost exclusively white and red onions, rarely yellow, as they feel the sweetness of the yellow onions detracts from and can overwhelm the other flavors in the dish.

Yellow Onions (for storage) are strong in flavor, high in sulfur, and quite sweet.  They are actually sweeter than the so called sweet onions, but the "sweet" varieties are so mild that they are perceived as being sweeter than the storage onions, at least until you cook them.

 

In other news, cousin Rebecca has been making all natural, lightly scented goat milk soap, which we are now offering for sale.  For more information, please contact Rebecca directly at rebeccasremedies@gmail.com.