The Vidalia
Onion
Toombs
County, Georgia is acknowledged to be the birthplace of the Vidallia
Onion. Georgia had been having a problem with weeds that were growing
faster than the locally planted onion sets. Texas transplants, it
was hoped, would give the farmers a much-needed head start and so
Texas Granex onions from Carrizo
Springs (near Cotulla)
were shipped there in 1952.
Mose Coleman, a Georgia farmer discovered one day that his onions
lacked the expected characteristic bite. The onion's mildness is attributed
to the soil found in a 20 county area. (Only onions grown in these
counties - or selected parts of a few others can market onions under
the Vidalia name.)
Farmer Coleman had a hard time at first convincing people to bite
into his onions, but when they did they became believers. Soon it
seemed that everyone in Southern Georgia was growing sweet mild onions.
In 1952, Vidalia was a small Georgia town that wasn't famous for anything
in particular. It was a junction of two major highways, however, and
hosted a farmer's market that did a good business with tourists going
and coming from Florida. These produce buying tourists spread the
word about these onions and soon magazine ads appeared (right next
to the mail order Chihuahuas in teacups). The name Vidalia was being
fused with the "world's sweetest onion."
Memphis based Piggly Wiggly Markets started handling them by name
in the 50s and 60s and onion festivals in Vidalia and nearby Glennville,
Georgia pushed awareness.
Production increased tenfold in ten years and soon 14,000 acres were
in cultivation. Georgia's Vidalia harvest brings in $50 million annually.
« Texas Onions, page 1
© John
Troesser April 3, 2004 Column
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