Onion Laws

Here is a list of archaic and sometime silly laws regarding onions compiled by Texas A&M

ONION LAWS

Author Samuel Johnson once said: "The law is the last result of human wisdom acting upon human experience for the benefit of the public." A noble philosophy, perhaps, but local officials who wrote some of these old onion laws seem to have acted for no greater purpose than a good belly laugh. After reading some of the following pieces of legislation, you'll probably agree that Johnson's opinion is debatable at best.

For example, are you a woman who happens to weigh in at over 200 pounds? Like to wear shorts? If these two questions apply, then beware of Ridgeland, South Carolina. It's strictly a violation of the law for a woman over 200 pounds and attired in shorts to be seen eating onions in a restaurant or at any public picnic.

Grant's Pass, Oregon, has a special ordinance making it perfectly legal for any citizen to throw onions at "obnoxious salesmen" when they won't stop knocking on the door or ringing the bell. And in Tamarack, Idaho, no one can buy onions after dark without a special permit from the sheriff.

Local residents are prohibited from eating row onions while walking down a street in Northfield, Connecticut. Barbers in Columbia, Pennsylvania, are prohibited from eating onions between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. And in Dyersburg, Tennessee, citizens aren't allowed to enter a movie theater within four hours after having eaten raw onions.

Onion-loving males be on guard when stopping over in Headland, Alabama, and going out on the town in an effort to meet one of the local cuties. An old piece of legalese says, "No man can place his arm around or kiss an unchaperoned woman without a good and lawful reason," should he have eaten onions within the last four hours.

Try to stay away from Nacogdoches, Texas, if you'd like to take your date for a delicious hamburger and onions. There's a strict onions curfew for "young women." Under no circumstances are they allowed to have any raw onions after 6 p.m.

It's a violation of the local law for any citizen to carry one or more raw onions in his pocket in Lexington, Kentucky. It's also against the law in Okanogan, Washington, to eat onions in public with a spoon.

This was a very long list so the rest of the list may be found at the following link.

-Original source- http://plantanswers.tamu.edu/publications/onions/onionlaws.html

Color Mutations in Onions

Color mutations happen in onions creating some wild combinations. Many onions have genetic makeup from different varieties including different colors. Varieties are bred together to give the onions certain characteristics- sweet, hard, storage, etc.... Here is a picture where the onion was half yellow and half red. No computer manipulation has been done. This picture was taken in Oct. of 1983.

I have seen other examples where the onion is candy striped with yellow and red.

Storage Techniques in Africa

Onions being stored in Africa. Floors are raised off the ground to promote air circulation. Fairly primitive but still provides storage for 3 months after harvest.

Shade Tree Onion Packing

Here is a grower that packs all onion in the field. The field sacks are emptied onto a table and then sorted, sized and placed by hand into each carton.

Onion Shapes

Onions come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Storage type onions (long-day) tend to be round and globe shaped. Sometimes they have some top shape to them. Spring-Summer onions(short-day) tend to be flatter in shape. This includes sweet onion varieties such as Vidalia, Texas 1015, and those from South America(Peru,Chile).


1. Flattened globe
2. Globe
3. High globe
4. Spindle
5. Spanish
6. Flat
7. Thick flat
8. Grannex
9. Top

Hail damage- S. Texas

Hail damage fields in South Texas a few years ago.

Goshen, New York flooding April '07

Aerial Photos of the some black dirt fields around Goshen,NY

Seed Stems - Seeders

Seed stems are a quality issue that creates a tough shoot in the core of the onion. It also may be referred as a Seeder. The tough shoot is the result of the onion bolting and going to seed with a flower on the top. The main cause of seeders is cool weather early in the growing season.


Here are pictures of a mature
onions that have been
identified as having seed stems.

(click pic to enlarge)



Onions cut length wise showing
the seed stem going down
through the onion.



Onions cut widthwise showing the seed stem.