Do You Use Scallions?

A scallion or green onion is a regular storage onion that is harvested when the white or underground part is still long and narrow, before the bulb starts to form.

I love them and each year make sure I have enough onion sets to plant some to use specifically as scallions throughout the summer months.

To me, they have a fresher, sweeter and milder flavor than a regular onion, although they can be pungent.  I suspect this might happen because of slightly unfavorable growing conditions such as too little water being available while they're developing.

The green stalks can be chopped and used, as well as the white part, lending a lot of color to many dishes.  Chop them and add to tossed salads, they add flavor and color to cold pasta salads or a potato salad, use them as a garnish, put then in with cooked greens or on a raw veggie tray with dip.  We like them chopped over a small dish of homemade cottage cheese with some salt and pepper.  Mmmm, good.  The possibilities are endless.  Matter of fact, at this time of year, my storage onions from last season have usually disappeared (been used up) so I use scallions for all my onion cooking needs until the fall harvest of the new storage onions.

My parents didn't garden when I was growing up, but my grandpa had a huge garden and kept us supplied with various vegetables all summer long.  He brought us scallions, or green onions as he called them, and my mom would serve them whole almost as a second vegetable at meal time.  My dad loved them, would add salt and munch happily away on several of them.

Of course, ones straight out of your garden are tastier than ones purchased in the store.  They take up little space to grow and you can make succession plantings of them so they're available all summer long.

Do you use scallions?  If not, why not try 'em?  I'm betting you'll like 'em!