Scallion
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 A bunch of scallions
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||
|
- "Spring Onion" redirects here.
The common name scallion is associated with various members of the genus Allium that lack a fully-developed bulb. They tend to be milder tasting than other onions and are typically used raw in salads in western cookery. Diced scallions are often used in soup, noodle, seafood, and sauce in eastern dishes.
The species most commonly associated with the name is the Welsh onion, Allium fistulosum. Scallion is sometimes used for Allium ascalonicum, better known as the shallot. The words "scallion" and "shallot" are related and can be traced back to the Greek askolonion as described by the Greek writer Theophrastus; this name, in turn, seems to originate from the Philistine town of Ascalon (modern-day Ashkelon in Israel). The shallots themselves apparently came from farther east. [1]
Scallions are also sometimes known as green onions in the United States and Canada. Confusingly, the term "green onion" can also be used for immature specimens of the ordinary onion Allium cepa. In Great Britain and some Commonwealth countries, Scallions are called spring onions. In Wales, they may also be referred to as 'gibbons'. In parts of Australia they are known as either 'eschallots', 'shallots', or 'spring onions' depending on the region. In parts of Scotland, they may be referred to as 'cibies' or 'syboes'. However, in Ireland the term 'scallions' is used, while there is a variant in Jamaica and Trinidad/Tobago that is spelled 'escallion', although the "e" at the beginning of the word is silent. In Catalonia there is a variety known as Calçot.
[edit] Escallion
The escallion (Allium ascalonicum L.) is a culinary herb. Grown in Jamaica, it is similar in appearance to the British spring onion, American green onion, Welsh onion and leek, though said by Jamaicans to be more flavourful. Like these others, it is a (relatively) mild onion that does not form a large bulb.
The Jamaican name is probably a variant of scallion, although this term is itself used loosely at different times to denote the spring onion, the leek, the shallot and the green stalk of the immature garden onion (Allium cepa). The spelling 'escalion' is recorded in the eighteenth century: 'scallion' is older, dating from at least the fourteenth century. To add to the confusion, the spring onion is known in some countries as the eschallot. However, the OED's reference to 'escalions' in Phillip H. Gosse's Birds of Jamaica (1847) implies that Gosse knew the shallot and the 'escalion' to be different herbs, and this article accepts that authority. The term 'escallion' is now not current in English outside its Jamaican usage.
Escallion is a common and much prized ingredient in authentic Jamaican cuisine, in combination with thyme, scotch bonnet pepper, garlic, pimento and allspice. Recipes calling for escallion sometimes suggest the use of leek as a substitute, though in salads spring onion would be more appropriate: neither is seen by Jamaicans as truly adequate. Jamaican dried spice mixtures that include escallion are available commercially. Fresh escallion is difficult to find and expensive outside Jamaica itself.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- The Oxford English Dictionary
- On-farm research for the development and promotion of improved agroforestry systems for steeplands in the Caribbean - page 12 shows classification of escallion.
