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Onion - Red Winter Ruby (Allium cepa) Rossa D'Inverno Sel Rubino Dark Red Italian Onions Non GMO & Organic Italian Heirloom Vegetable

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Onion - Red Onion - Red Winter Ruby (Allium cepa) Rossa D'Inverno Sel Rubino Dark Red Italian Onions Non GMO & Organic Italian Heirloom Vegetable

Biennial

Height 60 cm  23 1/2 in

An attractive globe shaped red onion with a pleasant mild flavour. This variety is an heirloom favourite; translated from Italian, Rossa d’Inverno Rubino, means 'Red Winter Ruby' and is a long day storage onion that has deep red skins streaked with deeper red lines.

Perfect for the home gardener and is an excellent choice for planting in the spring and harvesting by late August. Due to its dry-ish nature, if it is dried and cured carefully, it will store for 5-6 months. 

  • Hardy perennial, spread 50cm.
  • Matures in 110 days. (Open-pollinated seeds) Allium cepa
  • Start indoors in February to mid-March, and transplant in April, as soon as the soil can be worked. Sow 3 seeds  ¼-½ in deep per pot. Transplant as a clump, (or individually) spacing: 5-6 in apart, in rows 18-30 in apart.
  • OR direct sow outdoors after all risk of frost has passed in early spring. 
  • Onions require frequent watering; keep moisture continuous and stop in August.
  • Harvest when the stem has shriveled and tipped over. Save seed: replant minimum of 20 onions in the second spring and allow these to go to seed. large beautiful globe shaped flowers will attracts beneficial pollinators. Cut the seed head when they open; remove chaff to see if there are black seeds. Place any seed heads that have black seeds in paper bag and shake. Keep seeds stored in paper envelope in cool dark place.
  • Seed Count: 1 gram

 

Some notes about Onions...

Yellow Onions – this is an all-purpose onion. Yellow onions have a nice balance of acidic and sweet flavoring, and they become sweeter the longer they cook or from storage. They are usually fist-sized with a fairly tough outer skin with meatier layers. Spanish onions are a particular kind of yellow onion that have a slightly sweeter more delicate flavor.

White Onions – tend to have a sharper more pungent flavor than yellow onions. They also tend to be more tender and have a thinner, papery skin. Can be cooked just like yellow onions, and are excellent minced and added to raw dishes like chutneys etc.

Sweet Onions – Vidalia and Walla Walla are 2 of the most common sweet onion varieties. Sweet onions lack the sharp, astringent taste of other onions and taste sweeter.  Excellent when thinly sliced for salads or sandwiches. Range in color from white to yellow and often have a flattened (cipollini) or squashed appearance. Sweet onions also tend to be more perishable, and should be store in the refrigerator, if not using right away.

Red Onions – Visually appealing with a deep purple outer skin and reddish flesh. They are fairly similar to yellow onions in flavor, although their layers are slightly less tender. Red onions are most often used in raw preparations for their color and relatively mild flavor. If you find their flavor to astringent for eating raw, try soaking them in water before serving. Colour will not stay when cooked.

 

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