I only saw Mauis maybe close to 30 years ago when Balducci’s briefly had a store in our non NY. Town. They were both small and expensive IIRC. Yes, I tried them.
I mostly eat sweet onions raw, unless I get a bag of them and then I will also cook with them.
My fil used to grow Mauis, they were very sweet. Whether they tasted like a Maui from Maui I don’t know, I don’t remember ever having one. I wonder if terroir is a factor. And yes I used to do the knotted panty hose thing for Walla Wallas.
A Chowhound classic: JoanN
As I said, I do them most often for Pissaladiere so I’m flavoring with that in mind. For six pounds of thinly sliced onions, I’ll put about a half stick of butter in the bottom of the roasting pan, melt it in the oven, and then layer the onions with about 6 sprigs each of fresh thyme and rosemary and a couple of bay leaves, and sprinkle with S&P. I’m sure you could eliminate the herbs and substitute EVOO for the butter if that would be more appropriate for the dish you’re preparing
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For the same reason, Serious Eats recommended regular yellow onions, not Vidalias, as the base for their Ultimate Onion Dip.
I’ve used a lot of Vidalias, but in this vein, my preference is for Walla Walla Sweets.
I’ve always got sweet on hand, along with regular yellow and white. The sweets are Vidalia when available or Walla Walla or some SouthAm sweets if not (Vidalia are sweeter than the other two, but they’re still good).
As lots of commenters above wrote, I use them pretty much anywhere I use onions, with one big exception and one minor.
Do not make French Onion Soup with them, unless you like the notion of a candied syrup beef broth. Several years ago I followed a Martha Stewart recipe that called for all sweet onions and… just no, don’t do it.
The other minor thing is if I caramelize them fully, there are some applications where that much sweetness is kind of off-putting. My son has asked me to use only regular yellow onions caramelized on pizzas, for example. (OTOH, I guess I could just use half as much, but if I’m putting caramelized onion on pizza, I want a lot of it)
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I always liked this Saveur discussion of onions, and first thought about the expression “know your onions”.
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I’ve read the admonition about onion soup. It’s been a long time since I’ve made any - I doubt I’d have used Vidalias, simply because they were pretty rare once upon a time (my dad used to order them from Georgia).
Thank you for reminding me of that article.
Now I need to find a non-walled link for the ATK discussion of different ways of slicing onions and how that changes their pungency (maybe it’s shared somewhere here already).
I have a sub to Cooks Illustrated but not ATK or Cooks Country. Evidently they’ve now gone to a one-website-fits-none model. This is a screenshot of what I found, even though I logged into Cooks Illustrated:
I’m not sure this has anything to do with pungency. I’ll keep looking. I always have the feeling they’re trying to extract multiple subscriptions from me …
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Thank you!
Well put
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In my culture we eat raw onions (quartered, not sliced or diced) with our hands alongside rice and beef kabobs. They’re appreciated in this context if they’re sweet or spicy. Either way, it’s a welcome complement. I should specify the rice and beef are eaten with regular utensils. When putting a bite of rice and beef, one might take a bite of raw onion by hand, perhaps in a similar way as taking a small bite of spicy pepper with a savory meal.
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Jacque Pepin has a nice video of making these and rolling them with chives on the edges. They’re delicious. I use Japanese style milk bread with the crusts cut off.
That’s what I’d do as a kid, strangely, because there’s no cultural marker for it in my background . I just loved raw onion. Like a condiment. When we went out to eat, my parents had to ask for a slice for me, regardless of what we ordered , or I wouldn’t eat … they weren’t happy. My grandfather would provide me my “fix” sliced in wedges, not rings.
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I think the Brit version uses parsley. I cut the crusts off mine. Usually use Pepperidge Farm sandwich bread. I’m satisfied with a plain ole square sandwich just for me …
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I don’t buy Vidalia’s any more because they have very short storage life. With best of intentions to do a batch caramelized, I had an entire bag spoil when life got in the way of cooking plans.
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I’ve started putting my onions and potatoes in the fridge.
Those of us who have more storage space in the fridge than in the cabinets have been doing this forever! I suppose I could put stuff on the balcony… 
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In the winter, maybe, though right now they’d freeze!
I remember various reasons not to store them in the fridge by all the science-y publications, though.
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I think sweet onions work in the fridge, but I’ve read it makes some white potatoes taste sweet. I do store some things (onions, plantain/bananas, avocados) in the garage in what we call winter. It is usually around 50 f.
I usually store onions and potatoes in the fridge. Together. Despite what the “experts” say about bad things happening when you do so.
That bag of Vidalia’s was an exception since I planned to cook them “real soon now” and the veggie bin was full. When I went to cook them, about a week after purchase, I could only salvage 2 partial onions. I hold a grudge. No more Vidalia’s.
