In CA I cooked with yellow “Spanish” onions. What I get here are “brown onions”. The browns are smaller and have twice as much paper on them but the internet says they are the same.

What I’ve recently discovered is that the brown onions have a tough membrane under the paper skin that looks like you can eat it but you can’t. It never breaks down and I’ve ruined any number of dishes. Maybe the summer crop is different?

Midwest cooks - help me out!

And while you’re here, how about those canned tomatoes? I used to buy S&W, Contadina and Hunts. I’ve seen a few Hunts products but not the full line.

I’ve been getting dei Fratelli which is ok but different. Are there better choices?

I haven’t heard the term “brown onions.” Here they’re yellow or white or red or Vidalias. Sometimes there’s a slimy membrane just beneath the papery one; it’s good to remove it so your knife doesn’t slip.

Canned tomatoes here are usually the Roma variety. San Marzano are supposedly the best, but I think there’s a lot of fake labeling. I like Muir Glen “fire roasted” but haven’t seen them for awhile. Italian specialty stores might have good ones.

I don't know if it's the tough membrane you're describing, but I've noticed recently that when I peel yellow (brown?) onions, I have to remove the outer layer or two of onion beneath the papery husk.

I don't know if it's a middle-of-the-country thing or a new thing everywhere, but I've had to change my onion-peeling approach.

I can't help you with the canned tomatoes, other than to say that canned tomatoes seem to me to be pretty similar across brands. If anything, "fancier" brands have been more likely to be watery and with a grainier texture than your basic Hunts or Del Monte.

Have you tried red onions? I use those, vidalias or chopped frozen bags. Never buy the browns.

Wondering whether the yellow onions were bred to withstand shipping which resulted in the tough layers and darker coloring.
Have been peeling them, but if I am slow to start cooking Don will step in and take over.
He likes to cook and he likes control.

I call the “brown” onions cooking onions. Spanish onions used to be very common here, but they have been mostly replaced by white, red, and vidalia. I prefer the Visalias, but I only buy them when they are in season. We use cooking onions for stews, casseroles… anything where it doesn’t really matter too much because it gets cooked down. I use white or red for things where they aren’t as cooked down.

I cook with yellow onions, as I think they have a sweeter flavor. I think they're fine in raw dishes like salads or cole slaw, so that's usually what I buy or grow. White onions seem "neutral" to me, so I use them interchangeably with yellow ones, but I buy them less often.

Vidalia or Walla Wall or Texas Sweet onions are great and I buy them when they're available, but sometimes they're a little too sweet or they lack that onion-y bite.

Red onions aren't as attractive-looking to me when cooked, so I generally just use them in salads or cole slaw.

What can you grow there?

Is there a farmers market nearby? See what they have for onions, then grow your own.

I've been doing well with a scallion called Flavor King. Unfortunately, the deer and the bunnies like them, too.

Interesting observation, Chas. It’s clear that these onions have spent a long time in cold storage and I can see where a variety with a tough skin wiukd be necessary. I’m looking forward to sampling the local offering when the farm stands open up.

MA, my Mom used only purple onions and I never thought much about them. Sharon now informs me that purple onions are only for use raw, white onions are absolutely necessary in Mexican cooking, and yellow onions must be used for everything else. It kind of makes sense, although discarding nearly half of these tough little onions seems like an awful waste. At least I can use the waste to make stock.

PJ, I don’t think I’ll be growing much produce here. The growing season is very short and better suited to growing silage than vegetables, deer, moles, voles and who knows what else eat everything in sight. I don’t have a lot of room here for gardening and my knees tell me I need raised beds - or even one of the new stand-up gardening tables.

This means growing small, high value and/or specialty plants that can be clipped and used as needed - herbs, chives, maybe green onions and radishes. I think they’ll do for a start and I may try wintering them in the basement.

Had a terrier that would toss voles into the air and swallow them as she caught them. She would have been a terror to moles if she could get to them. Deer would have been chased away.
Voles can cause damage to your home.