Large White Onions?

[BreezyCooking]

What do you use them for?

I do tons of cooking with onions, & always have yellows, reds, & Vidalias, as well as shallots & scallions on hand. Have also cooked with the little pearls & Cippolinis. For some reason have never had a recipe for those huge pristinely snowy-white globes that every supermarket seems to have piles of.

How do they compare to the onions I'm used to using & what am I missing? Are they stronger? Milder? Suitable for a specific purpose? I just never seem to come across anything that specifically asks for them & can't recall ever buying/using one.

[kitchenelf]

I use them for soups, stews, any recipe where I need a large onion. They can be interchanged with the yellow. I'll have to do a side by side taste test. I don't usually find recipes that specify yellow onion or white onion - just onion.

[bowlingshirt]

I find the white onions to be a bit hotter...the yellow to be slightly sweeter. I pretty much use them the same.

[miniman]

I use the white and the yellow for the same purposes. It might be worth cooking up a batch of each and seeing how the taste varies.

[GrillingFool]

Raw, I find that the white ones are generally milder. I never get onion eyes with
white onions. Since wife doesn't like yellow onions, all I use are whites. (And scallions).

[ChefJune]

Originally Posted by BreezyCooking

What do you use them for?

I do tons of cooking with onions, & always have yellows, reds, & Vidalias, as well as shallots & scallions on hand. Have also cooked with the little pearls & Cippolinis. For some reason have never had a recipe for those huge pristinely snowy-white globes that every supermarket seems to have piles of.

How do they compare to the onions I'm used to using & what am I missing? Are they stronger? Milder? Suitable for a specific purpose? I just never seem to come across anything that specifically asks for them & can't recall ever buying/using one.

As the others have said, they can be used interchangeably with yellow onions. And they seem to me to be a little less "onion-y."

[Michael in FtW]

I find white and yellow are interchangeable in cooking - regardless of size.

There are three things that affect their taste: variety, the soil they were grown in, and the growing climate.

The ones we get in the grocery stores where I live: I find the white onions to be more pungent and hotter ... the basic yellow are milder and sweeter, especially when raw.

[GhettoRacingKid]

Another person who uses them interchangably

[jpmcgrew]

I also use both, I'm in the white onions are milder side. I like Vidalias when I can get my hands on some. I go through a lot of onions

[pacanis]

I can't believe my store still has Vidalias..... seems awfully late in the season, but they also seem stronger tasting than they did a month ago.

I bought a white onion once. It tasted stronger than what I was hoping for. If Vidalias aren't in season and there aren't any 1089's (?) or Mayans..... I'll get a big Spanish onion before a white one. I'm not big on strong onion flavor.