None of these we use extensively in North America, but they are very popular in French cuisine.

Scallions, also called green onions and spring onions, are also part of this group, but they are not a

different variety. A scallion is an immature onion harvested before the bulb develops.

Leeks (Allium porrum) are a mild, bulbless variety of onion. Originally they may have had

enlarged bulbs, but cooks favored the bulbless variety, and they are the ones that farmers

propagated. In cooking we use both the leaves and stems. Leeks are particularly popular in the

Mediterranean region. They owe their popularity in England to the cool, moist British climate which

leeks love, but also because leeks are mild enough for the less adventuresome British palate. They

grow so abundantly that in Wales they are the designated national plant. When a recipe calls for

leeks and you cannot find fresh ones, substitute scallions and slightly reduce the amount.

Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) are even milder than leeks. Their use is more for garnish

than flavor. Their grass-like stems, when cut into tiny cylinder-shaped disks, look good on

anything—soups, salads, stews, appetizers. Chives are miniature onions, but the bulbs are too tiny to

be practical in the kitchen. They have such a mild flavor that you can consider their effect neutral in

an overpowering full-flavored dish, but they grant just a hint of onion in bland dishes.

Shallots (Allium ascalonicum) are the third mild-flavored member that we use in

moderation in our cooking. The flavor of a shallot is somewhere between onion and garlic, but

closer to the garlic end and more delicate than either of them. They are the easiest of the onion-

garlic bunch to digest, so if someone has problems with onion or garlic, shallots may be the answer.

Botanically, the shallot is related to the onion, though it grows in bulbs like garlic. Cooks don’t use

it much outside northern French, New Orleans and some French-influenced Asian countries. If you

need to substitute it, which may be often because fresh shallots are not available everywhere, using

the same or a lesser amount of onion and garlic mixture gives a good approximation of the flavor of

shallots.

Boiling onion, also called pickling onion, is a walnut-sized immature onion, and is not a

different variety. This is the name for onions, usually white, that farmers plant so close together that

the bulbs remain small. The name only indicates size.

Pearl onion(Allium ampeloprasum) is a separate variety. It is a small single bulb that does

not have concentric rings wrapped in paperlike scale like other onions. Produce department

sometimes mistakenly market boiling onion as pearl onion.

In the Kitchen

Cookbooks often list onion and garlic as herbs. Both are obviously vegetables, though the

manner in which we use them in the kitchen parallels herbs and spices—they are basic food

flavorers. You may use both like side-dish vegetables—baked, roasted, cooked, in case of onion

sautéed, or as the base for soups—but these are not their prime uses.

All member of the allium family are rich in sulfur-containing compounds which they don’t

release until you cut into their cell walls. Take a whole, intact onion. There is nothing that irritates

your eyes and nose. You cannot even smell a whole onion or garlic. But cut into either of them, and

their effect is as instant as thickening with cornstarch.

Each member of the family has over 80 chemical compounds, most of which contribute to

the highly complex flavor. Two of these (alliinase and sulfur) form a gas that dissolves in the

moisture of your eyes, giving rise to highly irritating sulfuric acid. Other members of the onion tribe

release similar but not as powerful irritants. Nature did not put all that aggravation into these plants

to annoy cooks—they were meant to give protection from pests and grazing animals. Only once do

Serious Kitchen Play