Scallion
- "Green onions" redirects here. For other uses, see Green onion.
A scallion, also commonly known as spring onion, green onion or salad onion, is associated with various members of the genus Allium that lack a fully-developed bulb. Harvested for its taste, they tend to be milder than other onions and may be steamed or set in salads in western cookery and cooked in many Asian recipes. Diced scallions are often used in soup, noodle and seafood dishes, and in sauces in eastern dishes, after removing the bottom quarter-inch or so of the root end.
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]
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Other names and varieties
Scallions have various common names throughout the world.
- Argentina: They are called cebolla de verdeo."
- Australia: The common name is spring onion, a term introduced by the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries.
- Austria: While the German Frühlingszwiebel, that is, "spring onion", can sometimes be heard, the more common term is Jungzwiebel, that is "young onion."
- Bosnia: They are called "mladi luk," meaning "young onion." It's most commonly prepared as a side dish, mixed with cottage cheese and/or sour cream.
- Brazil: cebolinha-verde, meaning "small green onion" and is usually sold in combination with parsley as "cheiro verde", literally meaning "green smell". "Cebolinha" is also the name of a popular comic strip character, named so because of his scallion-like hair. In English, he is known as Jimmy Five.
- Bulgaria: пресен лук meaning "fresh onion". Extensively used in various popular Bulgarian salads, usually in combination with lettuce and tomatoes.
- Canada: Known as green onion.
- Canada, Quebec: Known as échalote.
- China: They are usually called cōng (葱).
- Colombia: They are usually called cebolla en rama o cebolla larga. There is also a thinner and smaller variety called cebollín.
- Cuba: They are usually called cebollino, which roughly translates to "small onion".
- Czech Republic: Jarní cibulka, which literally means spring onion.
- Denmark: Forårsløg, which literally translates to spring onion.
- Egypt: baṣal axḍar, meaning green onion. A traditional vegetable eaten in the spring season and associated with the sham en-nasim festival.
- England and some Commonwealth countries: The most common name is spring onion.
- Finland: Kevätsipuli, which literally means spring onion.
- France: Known as ciboule.
- Germany: Frühlingszwiebeln, which literally means spring onion.
- Greece: κρεμμυδάκια (kremmudakia), which literally means small onion.
- Hong Kong: Commonly known as spring onion.
- Hungary: They are called zöldhagyma, which translates to "green onion", but it's more common name újhagyma which translates to "new onion".
- Iceland: vorlaukur, which literally means spring onion.
- Ireland: The term scallions is commonly used.
- Italy: They are usually called cipollotti or cipolline novelle.
- India: They are called spring onion.
- Indonesia: They are referred to as daun bawang which literally means onion leaf, a name derived from their green and leafy appearance.
- Iran: They are referred to as piaz-cheh and are usually eaten raw.
- Japan: negi (ねぎ?). Traditionally, green scallions similar to those available in other countries have been used in the Kansai region; Kyoto's kujo negi is a representative variety of this type. In the Kantō region, large white-stalked varieties such as tokyo negi outwardly resemble leeks, although their culinary use is closer to scallions than to leeks.
- Korea: pa (hangul: 파).
- Macedonia, Republic of: They are called млад кромид meaning "young onion".
- Malay: They are called daun bawang.
- Netherlands, The: bosuitjes, which literally translates to bundle onions, or lenteuitjes, which translates to spring onions.
- New Zealand: They are called spring onions.
- Norway: They are called vårløk, which translates to "spring onion".
- Peru: They are called cebollita china which literally means "Chinese onion".
- Philippines, Cagayan: Known as lasuna, especially the dark, green scallions. Used widely in sauces and garnishes.
- Philippines, Cebu: sibuyas dahunan derived from the two local words sibuyas meaning "onion" and dahunan meaning "leafy" or "with a leaf".
- Poland: Known as dymka, which can't be directly translated but could be interpreted by native speakers as "small smoke" (with feminine grammatical gender).
- Romania: They are called ceapă verde, which translates to "green onion" or "immature onion".
- Russia: They are known as зелёный лук which literally translates to "green onion".
- Scotland: They may be referred to as cibies or syboes.
- Serbia: They are known as mladi luk meaning "young onion".
- Spain, Andalusia: They are known as cebollines (plural), cebollín (singular).
- Spain, Catalonia: There is a variety known as calçot, (though this can be used to mean the immature sprout of an ordinary onion after over-wintering). They are eaten roasted and accompanied by a savoury dip.
- Sweden: They are known as salladslök, which translates to "salad onion". Some people use vårlök which is a literal translation of spring onion, but actually refers to Gagea lutea.
- Thailand: They are called ต้นหอม, roughly translated as "stemmed onion" and can be eaten raw as a condiment to many foods, chopped and used as garnish, or boiled with other root vegetables to provide stock.
- Turkey: They are called either taze soğan or yeşil soğan, which literally means "fresh onion" or "green onion".
- Venezuela: They are called cebollín, which literally means "small onion".
- Vietnam: They are called hành lá, which literally means leafy onion.
- United States: scallion or green onion. The term green onion can also be used in reference to immature specimens of the ordinary onion (Allium cepa).
- Wales: They are called gibbons (pronounced jib-uns).
Escallion
The escallion (Allium ascalonicum L.[2], pronounced scallion with its silent e) is a culinary herb. Grown in Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago, it is similar in appearance to the scallion, Welsh onion and leek, though said by Jamaicans to be more flavoursome. 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 like scallion, 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.[3] 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 and allspice (called pimento). Recipes calling for escallion sometimes suggest the use of leek as a substitute, though in salads, scallions 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.
External links
References
- ↑ Allium Crop Science: recent advances at Google Books, last retrieved 2007-03-31
- ↑ On-farm research for the development and promotion of improved agroforestry systems for steeplands in the Caribbean - page 12 shows classification of escallion.
- ↑ Oxford English Dictionary