[Sca-cooks] Sweet onions in period Europe

[Mark.S Harris]

Adamantius commented:
> It should be noted, though,
> that as a recreation of a period recipe, difficulties might include the
> nonexistence of Vidalias in period (although there could easily have
> been a similar sweet onion in period, even if we don't know what it
> was),

Another onion as sweet as the Vidalia in period? I really doubt
this. If there had been, I would expect mention of it to show up
in multiple contemporary writings. Look what happened when other
"sweet" foods became available, either mutations or imports.

For instance, the sweet orange carrot. That one pretty much
drove out the cultivation of the other carrots. And both the
Sweet Potato and the Pineapple became popular pretty quickly
after they were discovered and imported.

Of course, the ability to grow the plant in Europe has a big
effect, but it's hard to believe any onion mutation that wouldn't
grow in Europe.

How fast did the sweet orange spread once it first showed up
in Europe?

Stefan li Rous
stefan at texas.net