Red onions are cultivars of the onion with purplish-red skin and white flesh tinged with red. These onions tend to be medium to large in size and have a mild flavor. They are often consumed raw, grilled or lightly cooked with other foods.
Eighty-seven percent of the onion variety used in cooking is culled from the common yellow onion. While there are many varieties of yellow onion, its less utilized cousin, the red onion, has its place in the kitchen for its mild sweet flavor and brilliant color. Growing red onions is as easy as any other type of onion. All onions are biennials, meaning they take two years to complete their life cycle. In the first year, seed grows, forming modified leaves and tiny underground bulbs. In the succeeding year, red onion bulbs mature until they’re ready to harvest. Most gardeners plant onion sets, the second year small red onion bulbs, to hasten the maturation and harvest of the onions.
