Pearl Onions

The person who gave me the bag of shallots also gave me two bags of pearl onions. Again rather than eating them, I opted to plant them. 

Will they grow here? Sure. Will they make bulb onions? Perhaps, but it depends upon what variety they are, or if they are true pearls. But they still will make something edible. With luck, they will be fantastically delicious. 

Pearl onions sold in the supermarket may or may not be the actual types called pearl onions. They very well could be just small onions that are a by product of regular onion production. So possibly these little onions aren't pearls at all. But once they grow, I'll find out. It will be a surprise! 

If they indeed turn put to be real pearl onions that make small bulbs, then I will use them for propagation for future crops. Time will tell. 

A couple of years ago I was given a bag of white onion sets that were purchased at Walmart. They looked very much like these pearl onions. Of course I planted them even though they were white Southports, a long day variety. I was curious about what would happen. They grew into big, thick shanked onion plants that looked somewhat like leeks. Their aroma and flavor was outstanding! Sweet and juicy fresh onion. I now grow Southports on purpose even though they don't bulb for me. Non-bulbing onions are still a great crop. In fact, I like them better than most green onion varieties.