Walla Walla Sweet is a large, mild yellow onion known for its exceptionally sweet white flesh, grown as a long-day variety favored by northern gardeners for fresh eating.
Variety details
Distinguishing Traits
Walla Walla Sweet forms a colossal, squat globe with smooth skin ranging from pale yellow to light brown, and bulbs can weigh up to two pounds. The flesh inside is white, exceptionally sweet, and mild, a character linked to sulfur levels roughly half those of an ordinary yellow onion. Its shape is typically round or slightly flattened, and it is noted as an early producer among sweet onion types.
Uses
This onion is valued mainly for fresh eating, sliced raw into salads, salsas, or sandwiches rather than for long storage. That fresh-eating character has also made it a familiar entry at county fairs and a regular offering at farmers' markets.
Performance
Walla Walla Sweet is described as a hardy, easy-to-grow long-day onion, often called the best sweet onion choice for northern gardeners. Growers in its namesake region have long planted it in late summer so it overwinters in the ground, tolerating temperatures as low as ten degrees below zero before resuming growth in spring.
Sources
8 sourcesBotanical Lineage
Taxonomic RankGeneral identification, edible-use, and cultivation information only — not medical or safety advice. It may be incomplete or wrong; do not eat or use a plant medicinally, or make growing decisions, based only on this page.