White Pickling Onion De Barletta

White Pickling Onion De Barletta - Allium cepa

Introductory Summary

The White Pickling Onion De Barletta is an early Italian variety, renowned worldwide for producing small, immaculately white bulbs. It is the absolute reference for lovers of pickled onions and cocktail onions, perfect for preserving in vinegar jars. Its white flesh, crunchy and particularly mild, also makes it a delight to consume fresh, raw in salads, or whole in spring vegetable stews.

Very fast-growing, this variety is ideal for the amateur gardener who wants quick results without occupying the vegetable patch for too long. It produces round, slightly flattened bulbs that are usually harvested before full maturity to preserve their tenderness. Growing De Barletta onions ensures a supply of homemade condiments for the whole year or allows you to enjoy the delicate flavor of spring onions right from the start of summer.

Origins and Botanical Family

Geographical Origin

As its name suggests, this variety originates from the region of Barletta, a port city located in Puglia, southern Italy. It is an heirloom variety selected over centuries by local market gardeners for its earliness and pure color.

Botanical Family

It belongs to the large Alliaceae family (or Amaryllidaceae depending on classification), just like garlic, leeks, shallots, and chives. It is part of the species Allium cepa, which groups together the majority of cultivated onions.

Historical Particularities

Traditionally, Italians utilized these small onions (the "cipolline") to preserve them in olive oil or white balsamic vinegar. They constitute an essential ingredient of the famous Mediterranean antipasti served as appetizers.

Botanical Description and Characteristics

Mature Height and Habit

The plant develops fine, tubular, and upright foliage that generally reaches 20 to 30 cm in height. The habit is compact and erect, which allows these onions to be grown quite densely without interfering with each other.

Foliage Description

The leaves are bluish-green (glaucous), cylindrical, and hollow. They are less vigorous than those of large storage onions, because the plant's energy quickly concentrates on the formation of the small basal bulb.

Bulb Description

The bulb is small in size, generally harvested when it reaches 2 to 3 cm in diameter for pickling purposes. It is spherical to slightly flattened in shape, covered with a very fine, shiny, pure silvery-white skin.

Sowing and Culture Conditions

Ideal Sowing Period

Sowing is done directly in place as soon as the soil warms up, generally from March to May for a summer harvest. In regions with mild winters, autumn sowing is possible for a very early harvest the following spring.

Ideal Germination Temperature

Onion seeds germinate from 10°C, but a soil temperature between 15°C and 20°C ensures faster and more uniform emergence. Below these temperatures, germination can be long and irregular.

Germination Time

Emergence varies according to temperature, generally taking between 10 and 20 days. It is crucial to keep the soil moist during this period to facilitate the breakthrough of the seedlings, which are quite fragile at the "crook" stage.

Sowing Depth and Spacing

Sow thinly in shallow drills, about 1 cm deep, and cover with fine soil. Space rows 20 to 25 cm apart and plan for a high density within the row, as these onions are harvested small.

Recommended Soil Type

De Barletta Onions prefer light, sandy, and well-drained soils that warm up quickly in spring. They dread heavy, clayey, and waterlogged soils above all, as these cause the bulbs to rot.

Ideal Exposure

A full sun exposure is indispensable for the proper development of the bulb and to avoid fungal diseases. The onion needs a lot of light to perform photosynthesis and accumulate sugars.

Thinning Method

To obtain pickling onions (very small), it is often not necessary to thin if sowing was well-dosed. If you wish for larger onions for fresh consumption, thin to about every 5 to 8 cm roughly one month after emergence.

Water Requirements

Watering must be regular during the germination phase and leaf growth. However, reduce or stop watering a few weeks before harvest to allow the bulb to ripen and prevent diseases.

Maintenance and Care

Weeding

This is the crucial point of onion growing: it hates competition from weeds. Meticulous and regular manual weeding must be carried out between the rows and within the row to let the onion breathe.

Disease Prevention

To avoid onion fly and downy mildew, strictly respect planting distances and avoid fresh manure. Association with carrots is an effective natural method to confuse the sense of smell of pests.

Harvest

Harvest Period

The harvest is quick, occurring 8 to 12 weeks after sowing, usually from June to August depending on the sowing date. It is an early variety that frees up space in the vegetable garden for autumn crops.

Recognizing Maturity

For pickling onions, harvest when the bulb is the size of a marble or walnut, while the foliage is still green. For later fresh consumption, wait until the stems begin to yellow and fall to the ground.

Average Yield

The yield depends on the harvest stage, but it is generally excellent in terms of the number of bulbs. On one square meter, several hundred small pickling onions can be harvested if the density is managed.

Storage Method

De Barletta is not a long-keeping onion for open-air storage (it keeps poorly in winter). It is intended to be consumed fresh quickly or to be processed into vinegar preserves to be stored all year round.

Garden Usage

Placement in the Vegetable Garden

It fits perfectly into crop rotations, ideally after a fruit vegetable (tomato, squash) that has left clean soil. It can also be grown on the edge of raised beds thanks to its small footprint.

Beneficial Plant Associations

The alliance with carrots is famous: the smell of the onion repels the carrot fly and vice versa. It also gets along very well with beets, strawberries, and lettuce, but must be kept away from legumes (peas, beans).

Crop Rotation

Wait 3 to 5 years before replanting onions or alliums in the same spot. This helps prevent the long-term establishment of soil diseases like white rot or nematodes.

Culinary Uses

Flavor

It is a mild onion, not very pungent and sweet, especially when harvested young. Its crunchy texture remains firm even after preservation in vinegar, which is its primary quality.

Ways to Cook

It is the star of pickled onions (silverskin style) served with cold cuts or cheese boards. Fresh, it slips whole into peas, caramelizes around a roast, or is eaten raw with a little salt.

Tip or Typical Recipe

To peel these very small onions easily, blanch them in boiling water for one minute then plunge them immediately into ice water. The skin will slip off by itself with a simple pressure of the fingers, saving you precious time.

Ecology, Curiosities, and Assets

Ecological Interest

Although often harvested before flowering, if a few plants are allowed to bolt, the spherical white umbels attract many pollinating insects. It is a plant with low input requirements that is well suited to organic gardening.

Container Growing

This is a variety that lends itself very well to growing in a window box or pot on a balcony. Its shallow rooting depth and reduced volume allow for fresh onions within reach even in the city.

Why this vegetable deserves a place in the garden

The De Barletta Onion is indispensable for gourmets who like to make their own preserves ("homemade"). Its cultivation is easy, fast, and the taste of a small white onion freshly harvested or prepared by yourself has absolutely nothing to do with industrial products in jars.