The Vidalia Onion Story: - From Fluke to Fortune

The Vidalia Onion Story:

In its early days of cultivation the vegetable that later became the trademarked “Vidalia Onion” was considered a “fluke.” Grown by the area’s Depression- era farmers looking for a new cash crop, (Vidalia farmer Mose Coleman has been credited with producing the first such onion in 1931), the onion was initially the object of concern. Unlike most onions, it was curiously sweet rather than hot. Farmers weren’t certain what elements had combined to create this unique commodity and were not sure they could reproduce it. Would there even be a market for a “sweet” onion? This question was answered once people took a bite. It was a hit!

After Vidalia built a farmer’s market to distribute the new commodity, and after Piggly-Piggy, headquartered in Vidalia, started stocking it on store shelves, the onion was on its way.

By the 1970s, farmers were building a national market, and by the 1980s, they united to seek state and federal protection of the growing region and the Vidalia brand name.

The Vidalia Onion Act, passed by the Georgia legislature in 1986, specified the 20 counties in which Vidalia Onions could be grown, and the state’s Department of Agriculture was given ownership of the Vidalia name as it applied to onions.

In 1989 the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Federal Marketing Order No. 955 offered federal protection to the Vidalia onion and created the Vidalia Onion Committee, which supports marketing and research initiatives for Vidalia Onions.

In 1990, the Vidalia Onion was named Georgia’s Official State Vegetable. The name “Vidalia” had also been trademarked and is still owned by the Georgia Department of Agriculture. Finally, in 1992, the state became the owner of the Vidalia Onion trademark.

Today, both Vidalia and its famous sweet onion are known not just across the country, but throughout the world. The iconic sweet onion has inspired celebrity chef Bobby Flay to proclaim: “Vidalia onions aren’t just the most famous onions in the world. I think they may be the only famous onions in the world.” Country music star Trisha Yearwood, a native of Georgia, also praises the Vidalia Onion: “If you have access to real Vidalia Onions, by all means use them… onions from Vidalia, Georgia, are the sweetest onions on the face of the earth! (But how do I really feel about them)?”