Yalta onion

[Children who have not eaten a real "Yalta" onion will not understand the "fairy tale" where Papa Carlo saved an onion for Pinocchio for dinner.]

Children who have not eaten a real "Yalta" onion will not understand the "fairy tale" where Papa Carlo saved an onion for Pinocchio for dinner.



Bulb onions. By taste, it is divided into three groups: spicy, semi-sharp and sweet (salad).
Spicy onions have a pungent taste due to the presence of essential oil and a pungent odor that irritates the mucous membranes of the nose and eyes. It is eaten after being cooked.
Semi-hot onions are less pungent, contain less volatile essential oil, so they are used raw.
Sweet onions are exclusively for salad purposes, and it is not recommended to subject them to heat treatment, since a significant part of biologically active substances is lost.

Of the 37 varieties of onion, zoned in Ukraine, only one sweet - Yalta. Therefore, it is very important to maintain the purity of this variety.

Its history is as follows: by the middle of the 19th century, two varieties were brought from Portugal to the Crimea, to the Nikitsky Botanical Garden - Madersky round and Madersky flat, which served as a relict basis for the famous Yalta onion.

This variety was included in the zoning list in 1950 under the name Yalta onion.

Attempts in the 1960s to regionalize it in other regions of Ukraine, as well as Russia and Kazakhstan, were not successful.
The Yaltinsky variety is very picky about the structure of the soil, air temperature and the length of a sunny day. Such conditions are fully provided for this variety by the climate of the South Coast. Yalta onion, grown even in the foothill zone of the Crimea, differs from that grown on the southern coast and becomes peninsular.

In addition, several years ago, varieties of sweet salad onions of foreign selection appeared on the market, vaguely similar to Yalta. These varieties have a shorter growing season, which makes it possible to sell it 20-30 days earlier than the real Yalta. But this onion differs from the real one in the worst taste properties, shape and color.

In general, the situation is such that the onion of the Yalta purebred is becoming less and less. In the zone of the South Coast and the foothills in the private sector, separate populations of onion have formed, which have a flat shape and a purple color. It cannot be called Yalta, but you can buy it by yielding to the persuasion of sellers who call it Yalta. It is also possible that the Yalta onion sold at the end of winter under the name Yalta onion is not such because the real Yalta onion is not stored for so long.

The real one appears only in the month of August, even by the end of August. In the cut of the onion, there should be no more than six to seven layers.
Then, you need to ask to cut one onion. Real onions have juicy scales that are thick, juicy, their thickness is more than 5 mm, but in the bulb there are never more than seven "layers". Contrary to popular belief, the "insides" of the Yalta onion are not purple - they are white, with a slight shade of pink. If the product meets these requirements, you can safely try the onion - it should not cause bitterness and burning in the mouth.

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Alim, what a useful info, thank you very much! In Moscow, they also sell Yalta onions, but I could not even imagine that it tasted sweet, I somehow bought it, and I thought that there was a special onion in it, like an onion, I have the same in my dacha. And it turns out to be sweet !!!

Interesting, thanks! Once upon a time, on vacation in Crimea, they made themselves a salad with such onions and scrambled eggs, mmm - yummy)

[Alim]

Alim, a very good topic, only it is very well stored until NG in a vacuum container in the refrigerator, it becomes bitter from a lack of watering and sun

Vaughn as it turns out! I never thought about it, I see a flat bow and take it. And I'm surprised that the taste is very different. That is sweet, then just an onion ... Now I will be more attentive

Very useful information. I bought Yalta onions several times, but it was never sweet. Means cheated

When you buy a Yalta onion, make sure that the beard (roots) are pulled in (and not convex), it will flatten in the middle from 2 sides.