Hello! Several years ago, I had a great idea for a new magazine called "Onion Afficionado" which would have been all about onions and how to best enjoy them. I approached several publishers about the idea, but oddly enough, I never heard back from them. What follows is a condensed version of "Onion Afficionado's guide to Onions"
Sweet Onions are mild and sweet. That's what you've been getting up until now, but they are all gone now.
Yellow Onions are actually sweeter than sweet onions in terms of measurable sugars, but because they are also blessed with a robust flavor, they are perceived as being less sweet. The sweetness really comes out in cooking.
Red Onions are strong and not as sweet as the yellow.
White Onions are mild and not very sweet. Now that the pearl drop season is over, these are my preferred onion for salads. Good cooked if you are using them with something mildly flavored (like flounder or zucchini). My friend Ben Stanley, who operated for years "El Gringo's Taco Truck" told me that in Mexico, yellow onions are almost never used, as the sweetness detracts from the cuisine. Instead, white or red are preferred, depending on the dish. Unfortunately ours did not grow as large as we would have liked this year.
just to give you an idea of scale, the gnome is life sized (12 inches from his boots to the tip of his pointy little cap)
Cippolini Onions are the onions with the most flavor, and prized by onion snobs the world over. They are button shaped and small, which makes them a nuisance to prepare, but it is well worth the effort. Excellent grilled on a skewer.
Shallots aren't onions at all, but are closely related. A staple of french cuisine. They are small. Normally the stress is on the first syllable, but a minority of people pronounce it "shalLOTT" which reminds me of Tennyson's poem "The Lady of Shallot" (1842 version) which I am then able to recite to them (I have it memorized). This is pretty much the only reason I grow shallots. Despite what the French say, they taste just like onions to me, and peeling those little buggers is a lot of work.
