Glorious Red Onions

Today, I'm going to tell the story backwards, starting with a recipe featuring red onions.  Then, we'll look at how and when to plant them, what kind of soil additives to use, etc. There are lots of uses for red onions; we like them in tuna salad, potato salad, cole slaw,  pasta salads - all the typical Summer salads...  They taste and look great!   Red onions are milder and sweeter than their yellow or white counterparts.  I don't like to use them for cooking - they don't give cooked foods nearly as much flavor as white or yellow onions do.  (You CAN use them in a pinch, but you'll need to use more - nearly twice as many as you would white or yellow.) 

Here is a nice Summer salad recipe, using  fresh produce as well as canned and dried products.  This salad is simple to prepare, a delight to the eye and the taste buds!

               12 ounces washed baby spinach

•                6 ounces sliced white mushrooms
•                6 ounces mandarin oranges, drained
•                1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
•                1/4 cup dried cranberries or Goji berries
•                1/4 cup toasted pine nuts or  toasted (unsalted) sunflower seeds

     Drizzle with a simple vinegar and oil dressing; or, use the dressing of your choice.  Add a  nice loaf of French bread, and you have a very nice light lunch or supper.

Harvest onions when their tops begin to turn yellow.  Dig carefully around each onion to remove it from the earth.  You really don't want to damage the outside of the onion, because this will cause it to rot much more quickly. After you harvest onions, they need to be stored in a cool, dry place. One storage trick is to put them in pantyhose.  You put one onion in, tie a knot; put in another onion; tie another knot; keep going until both legs of the pantyhose are filled; then, this can be hung in a cool, dry place, such as a root cellar or basement.

Lil Bit, standing in the onion patch

So, today, I planted red onions. About 150  of 'em. These particular onion sets were "Red Candy Apple" onions from Henry Fields Seed & Nursery.  Y'all know the drill... You get this seed catalog in the dead of Winter, and, oh, the stuff looks so good!  So, you order it, not fully realizing that the time will come when the plants need to be planted.  Oh, but that's alright.  God provided us with a glorious day today - clear, sunny, high of 72 or 74 - perfect for gardening.  And I had help!I  Both Moxie and Lil Bit stayed  VERY close at hand, assisting and supervising their hapless human with her gardening chores...  I planted these onion sets up close to the house.  Although it looks a bit bleak now, once I plant morning glories behind them to climb up the latticework, and something short and colorful in front of the bottom terrace - maybe marigolds - it will perk up.

And, here is a picture of what we received in the mail - two bunches of red onions.  Isn't it marvelous how God created all this stuff for us to grow, and cook, and preserve... and enjoy!

                                                     Are they ready yet?


    SHALOM  Y'ALL  
        
         TWYLA