Onions

[Anna N]

 I did a search, and while we have many topics on individual onions, onion preparations, etc., we do not have a topic devoted to onions in general that I was able to find.

So why do we need one for such a common vegetable?

Well, the first thing I came across yesterday was in a book recommended by another poster in a different thread, titled Food IQ. There I learned that the root of an onion is also called a bolster. That was news to me. As I continued reading, I ran across at least one other factoid that did not seem to be in accord with my understanding of this vegetable. 
According to the book a Spanish onion and a brown onion are the same. But if I go to my online grocery store, I can buy a Spanish onion for $2.69/lb or a yellow (brown) onion for $1.49/lb. The photographs show the brown onion as almost a perfect sphere and the Spanish onion as clearly more pear-shaped. What say you?  Is there a distinction?

 

[MaryIsobel]

5 minutes ago, Anna N said:

 I did a search, and while we have many topics on individual onions, onion preparations, etc., we do not have a topic devoted to onions in general that I was able to find.

So why do we need one for such a common vegetable?

Well, the first thing I came across yesterday was in a book recommended by another poster in a different thread, titled Food IQ. There I learned that the root of an onion is also called a bolster. That was news to me. As I continued reading, I ran across at least one other factoid that did not seem to be in accord with my understanding of this vegetable. 
According to the book a Spanish onion and a brown onion are the same. But if I go to my online grocery store, I can buy a Spanish onion for $2.69/lb or a yellow (brown) onion for $1.49/lb. The photographs show the brown onion as almost a perfect sphere and the Spanish onion as clearly more pear-shaped. What say you?  Is there a distinction?

 

Here, onions routinely available are labelled yellow, white and red. "Sweet onions" though not vidalia or maui are available occaisionally but not reliably. I buy yellow onions in 3 lb bags for general cooking, red onions for pickling (or if they are cheaper than yellow.) Is a shallot considered an onion - those are always available, as are green onions (scallions.) Seldom a day goes by that I don't use an onion of some type. I grow chives in my deck herb gardent, they do well until frost and are one of the first things to poke their heads out in the spring. I miss them when I don't have them.

[liuzhou]

Of the bulb onions, for years I only got red onions but over the last year, white onions have become available. Can't help on Spanish / brown or yellow.

 

Of what I call the stem onions, we get all sorts: scallions/green onions. Welsh onions, Chinese chives and several local cultivars.

 

 

 

Edited December 20, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[AlaMoi]

too many "experts" on the Internet.

one site says:  "Brown onions are also called yellow onions."

that'll settle it, eh?

 

typically in my mid-Atlantic area

yellow onions

white onions

red onions

sweet aka Vidalia onions

not often:  Spanish onions

 

specialty stuff like Cipollini and pearl onions I sorta' keep aside....

 

one could turn to the plants people, but they do latin, not colors.

 

[blue_dolphin]

22 minutes ago, MaryIsobel said:

Is a shallot considered an onion - those are always available, as are green onions (scallions.)

Here is an illustration of edible alliums. Common onions (highlighted in yellow), shallots (green highlight) and shallot (lavender highlight) are all in the genus allium and sub genus cepa 

Image above from here

 

 

17 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

Of the bulb onions, for years I only got red onions but over the last year, white onions have become available. Can't help on Spanish / brown or yellow.

 

Of what I call the stem onions, we get all sorts: scallions/green onions. Welsh onions, Chinese chives and several local cultivars.

 

 

 

I would call those on the left red onions (even though they are more purple) and the ones on the right yellow or brown onions. 

[Darienne]

I grow green onions inside on my den window sill in the winter.  I simply started with the root end of a few pieces and put them into potting soil.  They grow up like no one's business and the strange part to me...the non green thumber...is that I am now on harvest #6 from the same original onions.  I also grow grape tomatoes from one grape tomato slice.  

 

I don't really get a lot...but I like doing it.  

 

Life without onions does not bear consideration. 

Edited December 21, 2022 by Darienne (log)

[KennethT]

Maybe this is just me, but when I think of yellow onions, I think of the smaller size - about the size of a baseball, as opposed to the Spanish onion which is about the size of a softball.  Do many people here have large size yellow onions available?

[Anna N]

1 minute ago, KennethT said:

Maybe this is just me, but when I think of yellow onions, I think of the smaller size - about the size of a baseball, as opposed to the Spanish onion which is about the size of a softball.  Do many people here have large size yellow onions available?

If I buy a bag of yellow/brown onions, I can sometimes be lucky and get onions of a similar size. If I am unlucky, I might find my bag contains three humungous onions or a combination. It’s quite a crapshoot. (Less so if I could shop in person.)

[liuzhou]

1 minute ago, blue_dolphin said:

I would call those on the left red onions (even though they are more purple) and the ones on the right yellow or brown onions. 

 

I agree, but the locals called the ones on the right 'white'. That said, we only got those 'white' ones once.

The white onions I get now are these. They still have their skin on.

 

 

[blue_dolphin]

3 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Maybe this is just me, but when I think of yellow onions, I think of the smaller size - about the size of a baseball, as opposed to the Spanish onion which is about the size of a softball.  Do many people here have large size yellow onions available?

I rarely see onions labeled “Spanish” in the stores. I see yellow onions of all sizes, usually smaller ones in mesh bags and bigger ones sold loose, though sometimes the bagged ones are big, too.  
 

[MaryIsobel]

43 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

Of the bulb onions, for years I only got red onions but over the last year, white onions have become available. Can't help on Spanish / brown or yellow.

 

Of what I call the stem onions, we get all sorts: scallions/green onions. Welsh onions, Chinese chives and several local cultivars.

 

 

 

What you are referring to as white onions are called yellow onions here. Our white onions have white papery skin as well as white flesh.

 

[liuzhou]

Just now, MaryIsobel said:

What you are referring to as white onions are called yellow onions here. Our white onions have white papery skin as well as white flesh.

 

 

I don't refer to the ones in the first image as 'white' but the stores here did. I refer to the onions in the second picture  (with the lady statue) as white. They have the white skin, as I mentioned.

 

[Anna N]

15 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

I agree, but the locals called the ones on the right 'white'. That said, we only got those 'white' ones once.

OMG. I do love your “thinker/puzzler”.  
 

this is our white onion

 

 

[FauxPas]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

According to the book a Spanish onion and a brown onion are the same. But if I go to my online grocery store, I can buy a Spanish onion for $2.69/lb or a yellow (brown) onion for $1.49/lb. The photographs show the brown onion as almost a perfect sphere and the Spanish onion as clearly more pear-shaped. What say you?  Is there a distinction?

 

When I look at the seed catalogues, the Spanish onions are usually characterized as a type of yellow onion, but a bit sweeter or milder than the usual yellow onion. I don't know that the shape looks very different though. 

 

https://mckenzieseeds.com/collections/onion/products/onion-valencia-italian

 

Stokes classifies Walla Walla as a Spanish onion. It also has white Spanish onions. I may be even more confused than I was before.  🙂

 

https://www.stokeseeds.com/ca/vegetables/onion?product_list_limit=36

https://www.stokeseeds.com/ca/white-sweet-spanish-white-onion-spanish-o-p-217-group

[MaryIsobel]

3 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

I don't refer to the ones in the first image as 'white' but the stores here did. I refer to the onions in the second picture  (with the lady statue) as white. They have the white skin, as I mentioned.

 

Sorry - I skimmed to quickly

 

[liuzhou]

1 minute ago, Anna N said:

OMG. I do love your “thinker/puzzler”.  
 

this is our white onion

 

 

 

Yes. Same as mine!

[heidih]

19 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

I rarely see onions labeled “Spanish” in the stores. I see yellow onions of all sizes, usually smaller ones in mesh bags and bigger ones sold loose, though sometimes the bagged ones are big, too.  
 

My memory is that back in the day the red ones were called Spanish. Now, as has been posted - the big 3 red, yellow, white - look similar but are prced differently. The red ones always bit higher. I have attributed that here in healthville to the purposted benefits of red. I like red raw and oickled but based on quality and price I go for what will not be layers of paper waste.

 

Those various chives esp garlic are a whole nother delicious world.

Edited December 20, 2022 by heidih (log)

[liuzhou]

 

2 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

OMG. I do love your “thinker/puzzler”.  

 

I see her as 'resting' and she sits on my desk to the left of my main monitor. My constant companion, except when I move her to appear in food pictures!

Edited December 20, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[Anna N]

1 minute ago, liuzhou said:

Yes. Same as mine!

Although I am aware of these onions, and they are readily available, I do not believe I have ever purchased one. In general I buy yellow/brown/cooking onions, red onions, and once in my life many years ago, I purchased a Spanish onion required for a particular recipe. I have also never bought sweet onions.

I regularly buy shallots and have bought Cipollini and pearl  onions on many occasions. 

[liuzhou]

Do you get these where you are. Common here.

 

Allium Chinense

 

荞头/蕎頭 (Mand: qiáo tóu; Cant: kiu4 tau4) are also known in English as Chinese bulbous onions, Chinese onion,^[Chinese scallion, glittering chive, Japanese scallion, Jiangxi scallion, and Oriental onion.

 

They are mildly flavoured.

 

[Anna N]

2 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

Do you get these where you are. Common here.

Nope. They might be available in one of the Asian groceries but I have never seen them in a non-Asian supermarket.

[liuzhou]

I've never found shallots here although we get these which are sometimes described as shallots. In fact, they are baby red onions. I find them useful for some things, so I usually have some to hand.

 

 

[liuzhou]

If I buy pickled onions, they are usually the bulbs of the Chinese bulbous onions above. They come loose in the markets and bottled in supermarkets.

 

Pickled Chinese Bulbous Onion Bulbs

 

Pickled Chinese Bulbous Onion Bulbs

 

I can also get imported silverskin onions, but rarely bother. Those above are fine.

 

Edited December 21, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

... but my favourite local allium has to be Allium tuberosum, 韭菜 (Mand: jiǔ cài; Cant: gau2 coi3), garlic chives. We get them in three formats.

Regular

 

 

Left to grow a little. they develop flower buds. At this stage, they are sold as 韭花 (Mand: jiǔ huā; Cant: gau2 faa1) where 花 means 'flower'.  so, flowering garlic chives

 

 

Then my favourite of the favourites.  韭黄 (Mand: jiǔ huáng; Cant: gau2 wong4), which are the stems  of the same plant, but grown under reduced light conditions so that they do not develop the green colour, but are yellow, the meaning of 黄. To my palate and nose, this technique also increases the garlic flavour and scent considerably. This is a good thing in my book.
 

 

I love when I get home with these and open the bag and the whole kitchen fills with the scent of garlic (in a good way).

 

Edited December 20, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[MaryIsobel]

39 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

Do you get these where you are. Common here.

 

Allium Chinense

 

荞头/蕎頭 (Mand: qiáo tóu; Cant: kiu4 tau4) are also known in English as Chinese bulbous onions, Chinese onion,^[Chinese scallion, glittering chive, Japanese scallion, Jiangxi scallion, and Oriental onion.

 

They are mildly flavoured.

 

I haven't seen that type in local supermarkets, I don't frequent the big Asian stores, H-Mart and T&T. Funny how a lot of recipes that call for green onions say to only use the green part - what a waste!