7 Things You Didn’t Know About The Walla Walla Sweet Onion
It's that time of Year and oh yes the magical Walla Walla Sweet Onion is in season...Here are 7 interesting about this magical vegetable...
- A French guy named Peter Pieri who settled in the Walla Walla Valley around 1900 brought a sweet onion seed from the island of Corsica with him to the Walla Walla Valley
- The Walla Walla Onion was developed by mistake Pieri planted the seeds in mid-summer, hoping to sell them as green onions in the fall. Unfortunately for Pieri (but very fortunately for onion fanciers), he couldn't sell the whole crop. He left the orphan onions in the field all winter. Much to his surprise, they survived the cold, and set seed the following summer.
- Walla Walla Sweets were not known by their famous namesake until 1960 That year, Arbini Brother Farms decided to send some of their onions back east. Caroline Arbini, searching for a name that would set her family's onions apart, came up with the name 'Walla Walla Sweets.'
- Although growers elsewhere sometimes call their onions 'Walla Walla Sweets,' the real items come only from the area around Walla Walla, Washington.
- Washington Potato growers lobbied against Walla Walla Sweet growers to make the potato the official Washington State Vegetable however they lost and our oh so sweet onion won.
- Middle School students from Kirkland Middle School started lobbying for the Walla Walla Sweet in 2004
- In 2007, Gov. Chris Gregoire declared the Walla Walla sweet onion Washington’s official vegetable mascot.