Southern Tennessee Onions Casserole Recipe - Easy (2024)

FAQs

Are Vidalia onions the same as sweet onions? ›

A Vidalia onion is a type of sweet onion. It has a mild flavor, a uniquely flat shape, and a relatively high sugar content. The soil in Vidalia, Georgia has an unusually low amount of sulfur — that's why this variety is more sweet than sharp.

Vidalia Onions. Sweet Vidalia onions were historically grown in the town of Vidalia, Georgia and had been cultivated in that area since the 1930s. History books credit Moses Coleman, a farmer from Toombs County, for discovering the sweet Vidalia onion.

Yellow onions are perfect for stews, soups, barbecues, roasts and sauces. Avoid eating them raw as they have a strong flavour.

Yellow Onions: The general cooking onion. Usually relatively cheap and plentiful, they're the go-to onion when cooks get cooking. The flavour is strong but mild, with an onion flavour that isn't overpowering. They often have a bit of sweetness to them, they caramelize nicely and they hold up well when cooked.

However the flavor profiles of these two are reversed. Whereas Vidalias start on a strong and end on a sweet note in your mouth, Walla Wallas are the opposite. And their harvest periods overlap. So it isn't unusual for consumers to start buying Vidalias in early summer and switch to Walla Wallas by late summer.

Where Georgia residents are proud of the Vidalia onion, the people of Washington are just as excited about the Walla Walla onion. Both these onions have the same level of sweetness and are special to their respected regions.

All types of onions are good for you, but this dark reddish-purple variety, sometimes called purple onion, has especially high levels of quercetin and other helpful plant compounds known as flavonoids. Flavonoids give many fruits, vegetables, and flowers their colors.

White onions are probably the strongest-tasting onion on this list. They're typically used in Asian and Mexican dishes, as well as potato and macaroni salads. You can also sauté them, making them ideal for French onion soup or any other food in which you want to add sweet or sour flavor.

Basically, if you're going to eat an onion raw, the white onion is what you want to reach for. And while they're pretty mild on their own, you can further tame their flame by slicing one thinly and giving it an hour-long soak in cold water—they'll be so sweet, you can practically eat them like a salad.

...or as a flavor base for sauces, soups, and stews. Yellow onions are the most common variety you should cook with. They have thin layers of white flesh and a tough, brownish-yellow skin. They're very astringent — astringency is that sharp, almost spicy flavor that onions are known for — but also have a lot of sugar.

What onion is best for lasagna? ›

Yellow onion – Onion adds great earthiness to the lasagna and is a classic addition to marinara sauce. You could also use some shallot if you prefer. Garlic – Fresh garlic is beautiful in lasagna. Feel free to use as little or as much as you like.

Yellow onions are the most popular cooking onions because they add excellent flavor to most stews, soups, and meat dishes. In fact, typically when a cooked recipe calls for onion, yellow onion is a safe way to go. Yellow onions have a yellow-brown papery skin on the outside and a white flesh.

Caramelize the onions: Heat about 1 tablespoon of canola oil in a large skillet or dutch oven over medium-low heat. Once hot, add the onions and stir to coat. Let cook, stirring every 5-10 minutes, until deeply caramelized, about 1 ½ - 2 hours.

The best onion to use would be a yellow onion or sweet onion. By slowly sauteing and caramelizing the onion, bringing out its natural sweetness, you will balance out that acidic flavor of the tomatoes and bring a more mellow rounded flavor to the sauce.

The Vidalia may be milder or sweeter, but to Dean, flavor makes the winner. Ultimately, it may be availability that dictates which onion you buy. And if the onions are used in cooking, it won't make much difference, because the "bite" is cooked out of them.

Vidalia is the trademarked name of sweet onions grown in Georgia. There are many other types of sweet onions out there including Walla-Walla and Texas Sweets. However, any sweet onion will work as a substitute. If you can't find any, as a last resort, red onions will do.

Vidalia Onions have developed an international reputation as the “world's sweetest onion.” Their mild flavor is due to the unique combination of soils and climate found in the 20 county production area. Through Federal regulation, the Vidalia Onion growers developed Federal Marketing Order No.

Vidalias are grown from the seed of a short-day yellow granex onion that was actually discovered in Texas. But it's the low sulfur in Georgia's sandy soil that is said to give the onions grown there a distinctive sweetness. The region's climate is also an integral part of the Vidalia onion's success.