By Beatrice Hawkins
Onions would have to be one of the most useful vegetables that I can think of. They are certainly one I would find it hard to cook without as they add flavour to so many savoury dishes. Many soups and stews would not be the same without them and a BBQ would not smell right without some on the grill.
Vegetarian cooking relies on them for flavour in many dishes and not many meat eaters can pass up braised steak and onions.
Many years ago a girl about to be married told me her mother had given her the following advice – “If you are late home and haven’t got dinner ready, chop some onions and put them on to fry while you quickly put the tablecloth on and set the table – with the smell of onions cooking and the table appearing to be ready your husband will be suitably mollified and happy to wait for the rest of the meal”! Now that advice in this modern day and age of equal opportunity and shared responsibilities really dates me but I’ve yet to try it out!
Onions are Australia’s 4th largest vegetable crop accounting for 9% of all vegetable production and by volume the 6th largest vegetable crop grown worldwide. Australians use about 8kgs of onions per head each year. In 2015, the most recent figures I can find, we grew almost 232,000 tonnes. We exported almost 40,000 tonnes of fresh onions and Belgium was our biggest customer. The country to target should possibly be Libya as they eat an astounding 30 kgs per head per year!!
Australia is only a small grower in the world scheme with China being the largest with over 20 million tonnes, India next with excess of 13 million and America growing over 3 million tonnes.
South Australia is our largest growing region, 42%, followed by northern Tasmania, 29%, and our own Lockyer Valley and surrounding areas with 11%. However, if the right variety is chosen, onions can be grown and enjoyed anywhere in Australia in the home garden.
They are an easy vegetable to grow and a great companion plant to lettuce but not to potatoes! While they are a slow crop, taking 6 to 8 months to mature, they don’t take up much space and can be used young as spring onions, picked progressively as they grow or allowed to mature to harvest and store.
There are many different varieties and colours from white and red salad onions, mild flavoured creamy yellow varieties to the brown ones that keep so well and are so common in the vegetable section of our supermarkets. As a rule of thumb red onions keep for 1 month, white for 3 and brown for 6 months.
Onions should be planted in free draining soil that has been sweetened with lime and does not contain too much nitrogen as this will cause the tops to grow to the detriment of the bulbs. As a rotation it is ideal to plant them where zucchini or tomatoes have been grown in the previous season.
They need a sunny spot as they require 6 hours of sunlight to do well and to be kept moist in their early growth. They are one crop that should not be mulched as the bulbs are susceptible to rot if they are covered – they need to have a free flow of air round them and to be watered at ground level.
Feed them regularly with a low nitrogen fertiliser as they grow and keep weed free. Back off the watering as they approach maturity and stop altogether as the tops begin to turn yellow and fall over. Pull them at this stage, allow to dry in the sun until skins harden, wipe of any dirt and store in an airy, cool, dark place – hanging in mesh bags or stockings is ideal.
I haven’t grown onions for a long time but always keep them in the fridge vegetable crisper as this stops me from crying as I cut them – much easier and a better look than holding a slice of bread in my mouth to absorb the fumes!
They have been around for a long time and are believed by archaeologists to have originated in the Middle East. They are depicted on the walls of Egyptian tombs and mentioned in the Bible when the Israelites are in the wilderness and pining for the “leeks and onions” of Egypt.
An English farmer, Peter Glazebrook, is in the Guinness Book of Records as having, in 2011, grown the world’s largest onion weighing in at a massive 18 pounds!
*This is an old article that has been digitised so our readers have access to our full catalogue.
