Our strawberry onion shipment has arrived!
We were introduced to strawberry onions in March of 2013, when spouse and I visited a Florida farmers market in Tampa and discovered them.
We
were leaving Florida to drive home to New York State and bought two of
the onions. After we got home and tried them, I said something like
"If I knew how good they tasted, I would have bought up the vendor's
entire stock." It was the end of the season, too. We lucked into them.
So, in case you were wondering, strawberry onions are not a cross between strawberries and onions.
Nor do they taste like strawberries. Rather, they are a mild variety of
onion. They grow
in strawberry fields in the Plant City, Florida area, which is a major
strawberry producing area. (Plant City is in the same county as Tampa).
At
one time, strawberry farmers believed that planting these onions on the
perimeter of the field would ward off insects. That isn't true, alas,
but the practice continues.
They don't get their taste from their strawberry neighbors, but they
thrive on the water and fertilizer given to the strawberry plants. They
used to be grown at the perimeter of the strawberry fields but
production is growing, thanks to a growing demand.
Here's an article about them with a recipe.
In
2020, we discovered we could mail order them, and did. We have mail
ordered them every year since. We even got two shipments this year. The harvest begins in early February and
stretches into mid to late March, depending, and this year, it appears the season may end early.
We ordered early, but somehow, our first shipment was delayed by the grower and, long story, we had to move the shipment date again because of our schedule, so we will only be getting this one shipment.
It's hard to see the ruler but trust me, these are big.
Big, and beautiful. And delicious.
Sounds like a good long day trip for me. I have always wanted to drive down to Florida to pick up strawberries. We grow them too so I don't know what the pull is. So getting strawberry onions could be another on my list. We have Vidalia onions that are very sweet. So sweet some will eat them like an apple which I am sure is just showing out to the rest of us. Take care, Ann
ReplyDeleteYou've mentioned them before, and I always mean to read more into them. Today's the day, as it's cold and wet and flurry, so I won't be going outside (I already went to Starbucks!).
ReplyDelete...and Plant City's strawberries don't taste like strawberres either!
ReplyDeleteIt looks so big that it resembles a large garlic clove with leek leaves above
ReplyDeleteAt least you got one shipment, and you'll enjoy them all the more for their rarity.
ReplyDeleteSounds interesting
ReplyDeleteI like how the strawberry onions are used to ward off pests, naturally. It's good to see more and more people take to natural methods of farming.
ReplyDeleteWe refuse to use chemicals of any sort for our terrace garden on the 15th floor, and have such an abundant variety of blooms and crops.