[Sca-cooks] Sweet onions in period Europe

[Decker, Terry D.]

All these interesting questions and so little time for research.

There are a number of different types of onion, but what is being discussed
here is Allium cepa, the common single bulb cooking onion.  The are a number
of varietals, but they break down into three groups, short day, long day and
intermediate.

Short day onions require 12 to 13 hours of daylight to produce a bulb and
they are commonly milder, softer fleshed, and can only be stored for short
periods.  They grow south of the 35th parallel, which means they would not
have been grown in Europe, but might be the type of onion which was an
Egyptian staple.  They could also be marketed into Mediterranean Europe, but
might not make it farther north.

Long day onions require 14 1/2 hours or more of sunlight to bulb.  They are
pungent, hard fleshed and store well.

Intermediate onions require 13 1/2 to 14 hours of sunlight to bulb and are
fleshy.

As a guess, intermediates were selectively grown from short day onions to
handle colder climates.  Whether this occurred prior to or within period is
open to question.

The onions available to southern cookbook authors may not be the same as the
onions available to northern cookbook authors.

Vidalias, Wala Walas, and Mauis are apperently intermediate onions which
have adapted especially well to their locales and produce exceptionally good
onions from their environments.

Bear