Scallion

Scallion
Scallions as sold, with pointed tips removed
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Alliaceae
Genus: Allium
Species: A. wakegi
Binomial name
Allium wakegi
Chopped scallions

A scallion, (also known as a spring onion, salad onion or green onion in many countries) is an edible plant the genus Allium. The upper green portion is hollow. It lacks a fully developed root bulb. Harvested for their taste, they are milder than most onions. They may be cooked or used raw, as a part of salads or Asian recipes. Diced scallions are used in soup, noodle and seafood dishes. To make many Eastern sauces, the bottom quarter-inch of scallions are commonly removed before use.

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]

Contents

Varieties

White Lisbon (Allium cepa)
White Lisbon Winter Hardy (Allium cepa)- an extra-hardy variety for overwintering.
Parade (Allium fistulosum)
Performer (Allium fistulosum) Lawrence Daniels

Escallion

Flowering green onion in pot

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 flavorful. 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, the term used loosely for 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 the fourteenth century. The spring onion is sometimes know as 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 an ingredient in Jamaican cuisine, in combination with thyme, scotch bonnet pepper, garlic and allspice (called pimenta). Recipes with escallion sometimes suggest leek as a substitute in salads. Jamaican dried spice mixtures using escallion are available commercially. Fresh escallion is rare and expensive outside Jamaica.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Allium Crop Science: recent advances at Google Books, last retrieved 2007-03-31
  2. ↑ On-farm research for the development and promotion of improved agroforestry systems for steeplands in the Caribbean - page 12 shows classification of escallion.
  3. ↑ Oxford English Dictionary

External links