Short-day Onion
Red Candy Apple Onion lives up to its name with a striking deep red exterior that catches the eye in any garden or kitchen. This 95-day cultivar produces sweet, globe-shaped bulbs that rival candy in flavor, a refreshing departure from the sharp bite of storage onions. It's a long-day variety that thrives in northern gardens, delivering harvest-ready bulbs by midsummer with minimal fuss and maximum flavor.
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High
3-10
?in H x ?in W
Annual
High
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What sets Red Candy Apple apart is its remarkable sweetness combined with stunning visual appeal. The deep red skin and flesh make it as beautiful to look at as it is delicious to eat, whether sliced raw into salads or caramelized until the sugars concentrate into pure umami. At 95 days to maturity, it's fast enough to fit into most growing seasons while still developing the complexity that makes hand-picked onions worth the space they occupy.
Red Candy Apple Onion excels in raw applications where its sweetness and mild flavor shine, toss thin slices into fresh salads, pile them onto sandwiches, or serve them as a colorful garnish for grilled meats and fish. Its natural sugar content also makes it exceptional for caramelizing, where gentle heat transforms it into a deep, rich topping for burgers, pizza, or French onion soup. The striking red color persists through cooking, making it visually striking in any dish.
Sow seeds indoors in pots, placing up to 10-12 seeds in a 4-6 inch pot filled with moist seed starting mix. If seedling tops exceed 5 inches before transplant time, trim them back to 3 inches to strengthen the roots. Sow early enough to have sturdy transplants ready when outdoor soil reaches workable condition.
When seedlings are ready, carefully separate them and plant in a shallow trench, spacing plants 2 inches apart with 12 inches between rows. Water in well after transplanting to settle soil around the roots and reduce transplant shock.
Direct sow seeds outdoors once soil is workable in spring. The variety is calculated for direct seeding when determining days to maturity.
Red Candy Apple Onion reaches harvest readiness around 95 days after sowing. Begin watching for the telltale sign of onion maturity, when approximately half the green tops have fallen over naturally, push down the remaining foliage and wait about one week before pulling the bulbs. Harvest when the papery outer skin has fully dried and the tops have withered. Cure the harvested bulbs in a warm location (75-80°F) that is shaded and well-ventilated for 2-4 weeks until the outer skin and necks are completely dry, then trim the dried tops, leaving about 1 inch above the bulb.
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