Sweet Onions, the ‘A’ List and Pistachios

Onions can be divided into two categories: storage onions, which are in markets all year and keep well, and sweet onions, which, because of their high sugar and water content, last only two to four weeks. Sweet onions from the Imperial Valley have just arrived. They’re late this year, and the season will be short, lasting just through the end of June. But this year’s crop is a good one, and the onions will sell for about 49 cents a pound (59 cents at Vons last week).

Sweet Imperials are large. The minimum diameter is 2 1/2 inches, and they are often even larger. They have no stinging bite, which makes them wonderful additions to salads or sandwiches. They are also good for onion soup and onion rings. Or, you might just grill or braise them.

These mild onions even make excellent ice cream. The annual Imperial Valley sweet onion festival was held earlier this month. I tasted the second-place winner of the ice cream recipe contest, and I would never have guessed its contents.

To keep sweet onions in prime shape, store in a cool, dark, dry place in a single layer. Do not refrigerate them.

Avocados from the San Diego area will come to market in early to mid-June. The crop is larger than anticipated, and prices are likely to be fairly reasonable. Growers are expecting a more generous harvest in 1992, provided there are no weather problems.

It was bad weather that delayed the winter artichoke crop. This caused all the chokes to come to market at one time, resulting in April bargains such as four or five for a dollar. There are still a few artichoke fields left to pick, but the glut and low prices are over.

There is no glut of seasonal fruit this year. Apricots are starting to arrive from the Central Valley, but the crop is smaller than usual; it suffered hail damage. Cold weather was also unkind to the peaches and table grapes from the Valley. There aren’t any bargains in strawberries either: Rain slowed the Watsonville strawberry crop. Picking is finally under way, and there are still good berries from Oxnard as well. But expect prices to be high: Demand exceeds the supply of fresh berries this year.

This is an off-year for California pistachios as well--but for a different reason. Pistachios are a cyclic crop--large one year, small the next. The 1991 crop is only 40 million pounds, compared to 117 million pounds in 1990. Some of last year’s crop will be held over to fill the gap and keep prices stable until the next bonanza.