# No more white onions at the grocery store? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 17, 2007, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-white-onions-at-the-grocery-store/400443 "2007-04-17T07:02:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-white-onions-at-the-grocery-store/400443/1 "2007-04-17T07:02:04Z")
A few weeks ago, I went to the grocery store to buy some white onions. They were out, and I had to get some yellow ones instead. Then a few days ago, I went again, and noticed that now there wasn’t even a space for white onions–it was all dedicated to yellow onions. I asked about it, and it turns out that this grocery store chain’s warehouse in the area doesn’t have any white onions–and furthermore, that white onions have been _removed_ from the warehouse manager’s order list! As in, there is no longer any way for the management (at least of this area) to get white onions any more! Is this local to Southern California? Is this across all chains, or just the Albertsons chain? Basically, does anyone know what’s going on? -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-white-onions-at-the-grocery-store/400443/2 "2007-04-17T07:39:02Z")
I did a full search for any news stories about “white onions” and drew a blank for any that would help here. 😕 This does indicate to me it’s just a weird temp thing with your local chain. ---
**Author:** ![bare](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bare/32/471_2.png) [@bare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bare)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-white-onions-at-the-grocery-store/400443/3 "2007-04-17T10:18:40Z")
It’s just not the season for white onions and they don’t store well. Most yellow onions though last a long time under proper storage conditions. Every Fall I buy a 50 pound sack of winter onions for between 12 and 15 bucks. I’ll have good onions for another month yet, until they start to soften and sprout, at which time I just lop off the green sprouts and let them grow some more until the onion is finally depleted. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-white-onions-at-the-grocery-store/400443/4 "2007-04-17T10:44:08Z")
You want it to tie on your belt, right? ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-white-onions-at-the-grocery-store/400443/5 "2007-04-17T12:15:28Z")
I just asked Lady Lacha; she’s in the produce business. White onions are out there, but they’re very expensive. It’s due to weather conditions – white onions are very delicate and are generally grown in the Midwest. When they got that cold snap, it probably damaged a good deal of the onion-growers crop, hence the shortage and the hike in price. My wife says that a 50-pound bag would cost, wholesale, $80. She says try the little white pearl onions in small mesh bags. They’re available from “Melissa’s,” a California-based company. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-white-onions-at-the-grocery-store/400443/6 "2007-04-17T13:00:29Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] You want it to tie on your belt, right? [/QUOTE] The style of the time is a yellow onion, not a white. People always say, “never leave your house without your onion,” but it was a white onion back in nineteen dickety two. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-white-onions-at-the-grocery-store/400443/7 "2007-04-17T13:11:39Z")
I’m having a dickens of a time finding SMALL or even medium yellow onions. Y’know, the assorted but around tangerine to small orange sized ones that come in the mesh bag? Dominicks and Jewel (the big grocery stores near us) haven’t had them for at least six months now. They only have the loose, red onion sized huge yellow onions, which are milder in flavor and impossible to dice as finely without juicing them, since their rings are thicker. The only place I can still find plain ol’ onions in a sack is Aldi, but of course those are relatively ancient onions that sprout before I can get to the bottom of the bag. (I like Aldi, but produce is not their strong point.) ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-white-onions-at-the-grocery-store/400443/8 "2007-04-17T13:31:47Z")
> [@](#): > > A 50-pound bag of **white onions** from Mexico cost $55 on March 13, a record-high price that reflects low supplies caused by weather and decreased acreage, plus the end of the storage onion shipping season in the United States. > … > Rain in southern growing areas, including Tampico, Mexico, and the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas are the immediate cause cited for the higher prices, but another reason is grower reaction to the glut of onions from the 2004 storage crop, the Market News Service said. > > The 2004 storage crop was so large that prices at one point dropped to $2 to $2.50 per 50-pound bag of jumbo yellow onions from the Idaho-Eastern Oregon shipping district a year ago in March. Growers responded by reducing production for the last two summers. > > The 2005 and 2006 storage crop was 50.3 million hundredweight, a 15 percent decrease from the record 2004 crop of 58.8 million cwt., according to the National Agriculture Statistics Service. [http://www.capitalpress.info/main.asp?SectionID=67&SubSectionID=618&ArticleID=31216&TM=54871.74](http://www.capitalpress.info/main.asp?SectionID=67&SubSectionID=618&ArticleID=31216&TM=54871.74) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-white-onions-at-the-grocery-store/400443/9 "2007-04-17T14:04:56Z")
Actually, I’m not sure I’ve seen yellow onions. I can get white and red onions, but the ordinary ones are always pale green inside, with a nut-brown skin. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-white-onions-at-the-grocery-store/400443/10 "2007-04-17T14:21:00Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Actually, I’m not sure I’ve seen yellow onions. I can get white and red onions, but the ordinary ones are always pale green inside, with a nut-brown skin. [/QUOTE] Nut-brown skin is how I might describe the appearance of a ripe yellow onion. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-white-onions-at-the-grocery-store/400443/11 "2007-04-17T14:25:16Z")
But are they yellow inside? Mine are always pale green. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-white-onions-at-the-grocery-store/400443/12 "2007-04-17T14:34:34Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] But are they yellow inside? Mine are always pale green. [/QUOTE] Usually white-to-green. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-white-onions-at-the-grocery-store/400443/13 "2007-04-17T14:35:20Z")
So… why are they called ‘yellow’? ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-white-onions-at-the-grocery-store/400443/14 "2007-04-17T14:37:04Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] So… why are they called ‘yellow’? [/QUOTE] Because they’re yellow. 🙂 I said “nut-brown” is how I might describe a _ripe_ yellow onion. I meant _very_ ripe. Though I’m starting to think maybe the brown ones are the very _unripe_ ones since apparently the brown shade is associated with a green interior. (And I take it green onions are unripe?) On edit: [Here’s](http://images.google.com/images?q=yellow%20onion&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7RNWE&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi) what I’m talking about. And indeed, all these look more brown than yellow to me. At my grocery store, though, they look yellow. On the page I linked, the first picture in the second row shows a bit of the “yellow” that I’m talking about. (The second picture on the first row is not a picture of onions AFAICT.) -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-white-onions-at-the-grocery-store/400443/15 "2007-04-17T14:39:33Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] The style of the time is a yellow onion, not a white. People always say, “never leave your house without your onion,” but it was a white onion back in nineteen dickety two. [/QUOTE] No, you can’t get white onions because of the war. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-white-onions-at-the-grocery-store/400443/16 "2007-04-17T14:39:37Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] So… why are they called ‘yellow’? [/QUOTE] dunno, 'round here they’re called “Vidallia” or “Sweet”… I think yellow because of the golden color of the skin (most time) and they ain’t white or purple. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-white-onions-at-the-grocery-store/400443/17 "2007-04-17T14:40:25Z")
I saw all three types at the local Von’s on Sunday. I was a bit taken aback by the price of white onions, but that has been explained. I use red onions almost exclusively anyway, so it didn’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@Mike\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Fun)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-white-onions-at-the-grocery-store/400443/18 "2007-04-17T15:04:52Z")
Yellow onions aren’t the same as sweet onions, and vidalias are a type of sweet onion. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-white-onions-at-the-grocery-store/400443/19 "2007-04-17T15:27:45Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] A few weeks ago, I went to the grocery store to buy some white onions. They were out, and I had to get some yellow ones instead. Then a few days ago, I went again, and noticed that now there wasn’t even a space for white onions–it was all dedicated to yellow onions. I asked about it, and it turns out that this grocery store chain’s warehouse in the area doesn’t have any white onions–and furthermore, that white onions have been _removed_ from the warehouse manager’s order list! As in, there is no longer any way for the management (at least of this area) to get white onions any more! Is this local to Southern California? Is this across all chains, or just the Albertsons chain? Basically, does anyone know what’s going on? -FrL- [/QUOTE] Funny, I was thinking the same thing. I was at Albertson’s and really wanted some white onions for some burritos and was very disappointed they were all out. I got red onions instead. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-white-onions-at-the-grocery-store/400443/20 "2007-04-17T15:39:45Z")
I’ve had no problems getting smaller yellow onions in the bag. No issues there. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-white-onions-at-the-grocery-store/400443.md?page=2)