Peak season: Bermuda onions

Bermuda onions: Spring is the time for fresh sweet onions. But while most of them are, in fact, kind of bland, these little Bermudas from Weiser Farms have terrific flavor. It's a varietal issue: Most of the so-called sweet onions you see -- labeled Maui, Vidalia, Imperial Valley or wherever -- have been bred to be lower in the sulfuric compounds that give onions their edge. They're not really sweet so much as they are less pungent. They're best eaten raw; cook them, and what little onion flavor they originally had evaporates. These Bermuda onions are not only sweet but they really taste like onions. Glaze these in butter with a little chicken stock and you've got a terrific side dish for roasted or grilled meat.

$2.50 per pound, Weiser Farms