Num 11:5 AND THE ONIONS
Onions are difficult for archaeologists to track because they are too small and their tissues leave little, if any, trace. Some food historians place the earliest onion cultivation at the edges of the Mediterranean as long ago as 5,000 years. Others believe that onions originated in central Asia. The National Onion Association says onions were first grown in Iran and Pakistan. It's difficult to say in which area onions originated as several hundred varieties of onions grow wild in temperate climates all around the world.
The Egyptians left onions in their tombs about 3,500 years ago. In fact, the mummy of King Ramses IV, who died in 1160 B.C., had small onions in the eye sockets, probably because they had some spiritual significance and because they replicated a real eyeball. Paintings of onions appear on the inner walls of the pyramids of Unas (c. 2423 B.C.) and Pepi II (c.2200 B.C.), and in tombs of both the Old Kingdom and the New Kingdom.
The Roman satirist Juvenal wrote of the Egyptians:
How Egypt, mad with superstition grown,
Makes gods of monsters but too well is known.
'Tis mortal sin an Onion to devour,
Each clove of garlic hath a sacred power,
Religious nation sure, and best abodes,
When every garden is o'errun with gods!
Makes gods of monsters but too well is known.
'Tis mortal sin an Onion to devour,
Each clove of garlic hath a sacred power,
Religious nation sure, and best abodes,
When every garden is o'errun with gods!
Many early documents tell of onion cultivation and use. There is evidence that the Sumerians were growing onions as early as 2500 B.C. The great food historian, Waverly Root, cites a Sumerian text dated to about 2400 B.C. that tells of someone plowing of the city governor's onion plot.
Three different varieties of alliums (onions) are mentioned to have been eaten by the Israelites in the Biblical book Numbers; leeks, onions and garlic.
The Vidalia Onion Story takes root in Toombs County, Georgia over 60 years ago, when a farmer by the name of Moses Coleman discovered in the late spring of 1931 the onions he had planted were not hot, as he expected. They were sweet!
The Vidalia Onion Story takes root in Toombs County, Georgia over 60 years ago, when a farmer by the name of Moses Coleman discovered in the late spring of 1931 the onions he had planted were not hot, as he expected. They were sweet!
In the 1940's, the State of Georgia built a Farmer's Market in Vidalia, and because the small town was at the juncture of some of South Georgia's most widely traveled highways, the market had a thriving tourist business. Word began to spread about "those Vidalia onions". Consumers, then, gave the onions their famous name. Reorders were made, and "Vidalia Onions" began appearing on the shelves of Piggly Wiggly and A & P grocery stores. Through the 1950s and 60s, production grew at a slow but steady pace, reaching some 600 total acres by the mid 1970s. At that point, a push was made for Vidalia Onions to be distributed throughout the nation. In 1986, Georgia's state legislature passed legislation giving the Vidalia Onion legal status and defining the 20-county production area. The Vidalia Onion was named Georgia's Official State Vegetable by the state legislature in 1990. Vidalia onions are unsurpassed for sweetness when they mature in the spring.The fields surrounding Vidalia and Glennville in Georgia produce onions from granex seed that are so sweet one can "eat them like apples"
So sweet I believe even angels must like Vidalia Onions .
You see I was running a tent revival in North Ga. and expenses were running high and the offerings were running very low so I decided to try to sell some onions during the day and invite people to meeting well as often times onions were not selling good and service were very hard so I shut myself in to pray for the meetings and tried to forgot about the finances and those onions . Early one morning I desperately needed to pray but also I needed to raise funds so I headed off to town to peddle those onions and hurry back for prayer. I pulled up and parked and set the onions out hung the signs and set down in my truck and all of sudden I looked and there was a big white truck and the fellow asked me if those onions were those sweet onions and I said yes sir , to my amazement he said I want them all, all 300lbs. of onions ? He paid me top dollar and left . I set there and just wept over those sweet onions and thought Lord even angels like Vidilia Onions!