The White House garden may soon be home to an onion hybrid that Melania Trump’s grandfather created by crossbreeding an Egyptian red onion with a local Slovenian onion — the Raka Red. That’s the goal of the 140-year old Pennsylvania seed company, Burpee, who supplies the seeds for the famous garden.
Trump’s grandfather, Anton Ulčnik, is credited with creating the medium-size onion reported to be mild enough to eat raw but also used in stew, sauce, and on pizza.
During the 1980s Yugoslavia breakup, the Raka Red nearly disappeared. In 2013, the locals from the Slovenian town, Raka, have launched a project entitled “Best of Raka.” The project aims to create a renewed interest in the widely acclaimed onion from Raka, which used to be grown in large quantities. Today the onion can only be found in private gardens around the community by those who have preserved the seeds or still grow bulbs for planting.
