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ekammin

Mar 28, 2006, 4:36 PM

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Onions

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We have a house in San Antonio and just spent a month there. I shopped at Soriana, Super Lake, Torrito and some smaller groceries. The only onions I saw were white onions, which are much milder than our yellow onions. does anyone know whether yellow onions are grown in Mexico, or is it just white or red onions?

esperanza

Mar 28, 2006, 5:25 PM

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Re: [ekammin] Onions

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I've seen yellow onions in Guadalajara (at Wal-Mart) maybe twice over the course of many years.

The onions used in the Mexican kitchen are usually white; red onions are used for a few dishes, but are primarily for garnish. Pickled red onions...mmmm.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

(This post was edited by esperanza on Mar 28, 2006, 5:26 PM)

Cynthia7

Mar 29, 2006, 3:15 AM

Post #3 of 8 (1913 views)

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Re: [esperanza] Onions

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Yellow onions are always on my look for list...We get them in SMA and Queretaro sporadically. We go for a long ime and then we get them for a few months. Then we don't have them for a while. Same thing with red potatoes. One of my funny experiences is trying to tell Rosa that Roma tomatoes are for cooking and the Big Boy type tomatoes are for eating uncooked or in salads..same thing with yellow and white onions. To her a tomato is a tomato and an onion is an onion..It certainly makes life simple that way.

Bubba

Mar 29, 2006, 10:38 AM

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Re: [ekammin] Onions

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Super Lake at Lake Chapala has yellow onions on occasion. In fact, I have some in my kitchen right now that I bought in Super Lake this past week. At that time they had bags of real russet potatoes and actual lemom lemons as well. Like so many things one finds around here, sometimes they have it and sometimes they don't. Often they don't have what you want that they consider exotic because once they get it people like us buy and hoard when we wouldn't normally do that. About six months ago, I bought up about six jars of olive oil based mayonnaise from Spain (I love olive oil based commercial mayonnaise from Europe) just because I was certain they would never re-order. Now I'm down to my last jar and wondering why I didn't buy all 10 jars available when I spotted them. Sure enough they no longer carry this product and have no idea what I'm talking about.

This reminds me of one of my favorite stories about that fancy meat place next to Super Lake that caters to a gringo and upper-class Mexican crowd. I asked the proprietor why he didn't consistently carry lamb products. He told me it was because there was no demand for lamb and, besides, whenever he got some in it sold out immediately.

(This post was edited by Bubba on Mar 29, 2006, 10:40 AM)

thriftqueen

Mar 29, 2006, 10:58 AM

Post #5 of 8 (1882 views)

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Re: [ekammin] Onions

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Here in Sonora we rarely see a yellow onion. As a matter of fact I think the only ones I've seen have been in Wal-Mart and there only rarely. I love yellow onions to cook with however the white ones are gentler to eat. It seems for the past couple of months the onions have been lousy period. I've noticed recently that the fresh ones are just about big enough to be gathered as dry onions. Another thing I have missed this year are the sweet potatoes. Didn't see any in the local stores. I made a trip to the US in February and brought back enough for three meals. We enjoyed them.

Bubba, got to love the Mexican logic; the lamb was sold out right away, LOL.

ekammin

Apr 23, 2006, 8:53 AM

Post #6 of 8 (1775 views)

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Re: [thriftqueen] Onions

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Bubba mentions olive oil mayonnaise from Europe -

Actually, traditional mayonnaise is just that; an emulsion of egg yolks in olive oil (degraded to whole eggs, or powdered eggs, in any sort of cholesterol-laden vegetable oil in commercial mayonnaise NOB) with some lemon juice and vinegar added.

Considering this, it should not be hard to make up a satisfactory batch at home.

Bubba

Apr 23, 2006, 12:21 PM

Post #7 of 8 (1763 views)

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Re: [ekammin] Onions

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ekammin:

Actually, I don´t buy mayonnaise made in Mexico except for Best Foods since I don´t find the Mexican style of mayonnaise appetizing. The Best Foods mayonnaise made in Mexico by Unilever is made with soybean oil which, as with olive oil, contains no cholesterol so the cholesterol in those mayonnaises I buy here get their cholesterol from the eggs, I suppose, whether powdered or fresh.

I am very fond of very fruity olive oil which, when used to make mayonnaise or related products such as aioli, give the resulting emulsion a strong olive oil flavor that I love. The Spanish olive oil I bought was similar to that but my primary experience with buying fruity olive oil based commercial mayonnaise has been in markets in my wife´s native France. Consuming that type of product was an eye opener for me as was much of the food in France.

You are not the first person to tell me to make my own mayonnaise which we do but, for every day use we prefer to use the commercial products.

Since we are on this subject, for other fruity olive oil lovers, I have found the Sadaf brand of extra virgin olive oil to be my favorite yet in Mexico. It is imported from Los Angeles but made in Italy. Italian olive oils can be very bland and tasteless but this is really good. It is probably not that widely available but what can I say.

I am fortunate to have low cholesteral so I don´t pay much attention to that . It´s a genetic gift. I don´t know what possessed me to buy that jar of Smart Beat fat free cholesterol free mayonnaise "dressing" that´s been sitting in my refrigerator for the past six months but it is a terrible concoction probably available in Mexico only here at Lake Chapala. I think it cost me $80 Pesos. I´m disposing of it in the garbage right now.

(This post was edited by Bubba on Apr 23, 2006, 12:23 PM)

Camille

Apr 26, 2006, 1:23 PM

Post #8 of 8 (1707 views)

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Re: [Bubba] Onions

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Sam's in PV has Cordoliva Extra Virgin, from Spain, my current favorite of what's available here. And yesterday WalMart had yellow onions! Never before, and probably never again, but we are getting hydroponic lettuces about half the time now, a really big improvement over the choices of the past. Waiting for the Superama here is just like waiting for Godot....