Crystal White Wax Pickling Onion "White Bermuda" (Allium cepa) Seeds – Short-Day Heirloom, Mild Sweet Pearl Onion for Pickling, Canning & Slicing

Minimum: 80+ Seeds

The Mild, Sweet White Bermuda for Pearl Onions

The little white onions floating in a jar of pickling brine start life as a seed, and Crystal White Wax is the heirloom built for the job. A short-day White Bermuda type, it grows clean, mild, sweet white bulbs that stay tender and pleasant raw or pickled, and when planted close together they size up as small, uniform pearl onions. The same plant, given more room, grows into a mild slicing onion for sandwiches and salads, making it a flexible choice for the home canner and cook.

Who Grows Crystal White Wax Pickling Onion?
The home canner wanting pearl onions for pickling and cocktail onions.
The southern gardener wanting a short-day onion that bulbs up in shorter winter days.
The cook wanting a mild, sweet white onion for slicing and fresh eating.
The heirloom gardener wanting an authentic, open-pollinated White Bermuda type.

What This White Bermuda Heirloom Onion Actually Is
Allium cepa 'Crystal White Wax' is a short-day heirloom onion of the White Bermuda type, with clean white skin and mild, sweet, crisp flesh. Short-day onions form bulbs when days reach roughly 10 to 12 hours long, which makes them best suited to the southern states, or to fall planting in mild climates, rather than the far north. Crowded closely, the bulbs stay small and uniform, ideal for pearl onions for pickling and canning. Given more space, they grow larger for slicing, though they are best used fresh or within a few months, since mild onions don't store as long as pungent types. As an open-pollinated heirloom, it breeds true from saved seed. Grown as a cool-season biennial, harvested the first year.

In the Garden & Kitchen

• Pickled pearl onions: Brine small, crowded bulbs in vinegar for classic pickled and cocktail onions.
• Canning: Put up a season's harvest of small white onions in jars.
• Slicing onions: Slice mild, sweet bulbs raw onto burgers, sandwiches, and salads.
• Cooking: Use whole small onions in stews, braises, and roasts.
• Peeling tip: Blanch pearl onions for 1 minute, then plunge in ice water so the skins slip off.
• Seed saving: Overwinter selected bulbs to flower and set seed in the second year.

Growing Crystal White Wax Pickling Onion Seeds

• Start method: Start seed indoors 8 to 10 weeks before transplanting, or direct sow in fall in mild climates.
• Germination: Sprouts in 7 to 14 days in cool soil.
• Soil temperature: Germinates best between 50 and 75°F.
• Transplanting: Set seedlings out when pencil-thick, once cool weather allows.
• Spacing: Space plants 1 inch apart for pearl onions, or 4 inches apart for full-size bulbs.
• Sunlight: Full sun.
• Soil: Loose, fertile, well-drained soil; feed early with nitrogen and stop once bulbs begin to form.
• Watering: Consistent moisture; reduce as tops begin to fall over.
• Days to maturity: Typically ready in roughly 100 to 120 days; pearls are ready earlier when crowded.
• Harvest: Pull when about half the tops have fallen over.
• Curing: Cure bulbs in a dry, airy place for 2 to 3 weeks before storing.
• Day length note: Short-day onions bulb early in the north, so choose them for the South or fall planting.

Before You Close This Page
This is the onion that fills the pickle jar, a mild, sweet, short-day White Bermuda heirloom that grows into small, uniform pearls or larger slicing bulbs depending on how you space it. Crystal White Wax Pickling Onion is easy to grow from seed in the right climate and a natural for canning, pickling, and fresh eating. Plant it close for pearls, give it sun and steady moisture, and pull it when the tops fall. Grow the onion that belongs in the jar.