Variety
Sturon
The UK's most popular main-crop onion — reliable, long-storing, and perfectly round
Sturon is the benchmark main-crop yellow onion for UK kitchen gardens — a Dutch variety that produces large, globe-shaped bulbs with golden-brown papery skin and a clean, classic onion flavour. It's one of the most widely grown varieties in the UK due to its consistent yields, good disease resistance, and excellent storage life (6–8 months if well-cured). Available as both seed and sets.
Flavour
Classic yellow onion flavour — full, rounded, slightly sweet with a moderate heat that cooks down to sweetness easily. The flavour is more complex and pronounced than supermarket onions. The high sugar content makes it excellent for caramelising — ideal for the deeply sweet, burnished onions that are one of the most transformative BBQ accompaniments.
In the kitchen
The definitive all-purpose onion. Halve and grill cut-side down over direct fire for 8–10 minutes until deeply caramelised — serve alongside grilled steak or in a burger. Excellent sliced into rings and slow-cooked until jammy as a burger topping. Also extraordinary baked whole in embers until completely soft.
Growing
Plant sets (small bulbs) in March–April, 10cm apart in rows 25cm apart. Push sets just below the soil surface with the tip showing. Alternatively sow from seed in January–February under glass, then plant out in spring. Harvest when the tops fall over naturally; lay on their sides on mesh for 2–3 weeks to cure in a warm dry place before storing.