Vitamins and Minerals Found Inside Vidalia Onions

Vidalia onions are generally thought of as being one of the sweetest onions.

Sweet onions are generally loaded with nutrients our bodies seek, the highest nutrient by far being potassium.

Sweet onions, like Vidalia onions can be both nutritious and delicious when juiced with raw vegetable ingredients. Onions add an excellent spice-like flavor to most vegetable juice recipes. Here are a few of the questions we attempt to answer about sweet onions in general, and Vidalia onions in particular.

• What vitamins in sweet onions make them so good for us?
• What is the best method for juicing onions?
• What are some great buying tips for sweet onions?

Plus, we'll do our best to provide some general information about sweet onions, and about Vidalia onions in particular, that you might not find so easily elsewhere on the Internet.

Let's learn more about Vidalia onions and about sweet onions in general...

Vitamins and Minerals in Sweet Onions (like Vidalia Onions)

Vidalia onions, being the sweetest of most all onions, are the onions we've chosen to represent sweet onions because they can work so well with most vegetable juices. Sweet onions in general are probably best known for being loaded with potassium, but they also contain several other valuable nutrients.

Vitamins in Sweet Onions

• Vitamin C
• Vitamin B6
• Folate
• Choline
• Trace amounts of Thiamin, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Betaine and Vitamin K

Minerals in Sweet Onions

• Magnesium
• Calcium 
• Manganese
• Phosphorus
• Potassium
• Sodium
• Trace amounts of Iron, Zinc, Copper and Selenium

Raw sweet onions are low in Sodium, and very low in Cholesterol. They are also a good source of Dietary Fiber, Folate, Potassium and Manganese, and a very good source of Vitamin C and Vitamin B6.

The next time you think about Vidalia onions, or any kind of sweet onions... you might be surprised to discover how much a very small amount can add to the flavor of your vegetable juices when juicing them.

Tips for Juicing Vidalia Onions and Onions in General

Juicing Vidalia onions (and other sweet onions) can add both flavor and valuable nutrients to most home-juiced vegetable cocktails... or it can result in a not-so-palatable drink that is difficult, if not impossible to swallow.

Here are a few tips for juicing onions that may help turn your juicing experience into something you look forward to and thoroughly enjoy.

When juicing onions, always keep in mind that a little goes a long way (just a few small pieces) to adding nice, sharp flavor to your vegetable juices.

Juice a very small amount at the beginning of your juice recipe -- always juicing onions first -- this will help rid your juicer of the taste of onion.

Purchasing Tips for Buying Vidalia Onions (and Other Sweet Onions)

If you are unable to grow your own sweet onions, then here are a few tips for buying sweet onions (like Vidalia onions) which may help you get the freshest ingredients. We'll also include a few storing tips for onions which you might also find helpful.

Choose onions with dry, rustling, papery skins free of greenish sunburn spots. The onions should not have "necks."

Unpeeled onions should not be refrigerated.

Store unpeeled onions in a cool dark place away from potatoes. Onions and potatoes react with each other and the onions will soften from absorbed moisture released by the potatoes.

General Information About Onions

This article wouldn't be complete if we didn't include a little general information about onions, as well as a few helpful links if you want to explore Vidalia onions and/or sweet onions further.

To extend the availability of Vidalia onions between growing seasons, most producers use a technology borrowed from the apple industry known as Controlled Atmosphere (CA) storage. CA essentially puts the onions to "sleep" to help prolong their availability.

For Vidalia Onions, they can be stored for several months using CA with an atmosphere of 92% nitrogen, 5% carbon dioxide and 3% oxygen with the air temperature maintained at approximately 33 degrees with 70% humidity.

There are about 20 seed varieties of onions approved for planting as Vidalias by the Georgia Agricultural Commission. The yellow granex seed varieties selected have passed through several consecutive years of testing by University of Georgia Extension Service experts. The onions they produce must then pass additional test batches, including checks for taste, physical characteristics, and chemical composition.

Vidalia onions are an unusually sweet variety of onion, due to the low amount of sulfur in the soil in which the onions are grown and were first grown near Vidalia, Georgia, in the early 1930s. Mose Coleman is considered the person that discovered the sweet Vidalia Onion variety in 1931.

Georgia's state legislature passed the "Vidalia Onion Act of 1986" which authorized a trademark for "Vidalia Onions" and limits the production area to Georgia or any subset as defined by the state's Commissioner of Agriculture.

The Vidalia onion was named Georgia's official state vegetable in 1990.

The Onion Futures Act, passed in 1958, bans the trading of futures contracts on onions in the United States, after farmers complained about alleged market manipulation at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. It remains in effect as of 2008.

Onions are related to garlic and have many of the same therapeutic properties.

An onion's pungency is caused by essential oils, which normalize the sympathetic nervous system and stimulate beneficial bacteria.

It is believed onion juice may be helpful expelling mucus from the body.

Additional Sources/Resources for Sweet Onions

• The Vidalia Onion Committee
• Wikipedia - Onion
• Wikipedia - Vidalia onion
• NutritionData.org - Onions, sweet, raw

Be sure to check out both our "Juicing" and our "Smoothies" sections for delicious recipes and more using Valerian!