You may not know this but July is the month for onions. The reason you might now know this is because onions are widely available. Throughout the year, most of us are able to get onions at our local supermarket or bodega. There are yellow onions, Vidalia onions, white onions, sweet onions and scallions. Of all the products available in the supermarket produce section, onions are perhaps the most dependable, offered up throughout the seasons in quantity.
But this is not the onion of which I speak. The allium category is awash with specialty onions that you will never find in your supermarket produce section. Or in the massive agricultural fields feeding them. These other onions come in all shapes, colors and sizes, with names that evoke the faraway places where they are grown. I am particularly partial to the bulbous Red Long of Florence and the delicate Ishikura Bunching onion. There’s also Red Long of Tropea, whose seeds were sadly sold out this year. Note to self.
First a little about the allium category. Allium is the genus that includes onions, garlic, leeks, shallots, chives, and scallions — all prized for their pungent sulfur compounds, which is what makes your eyes water when cutting onions. Most alliums are biennials or perennials that grow from bulbs, and many (like garlic and shallots) are propagated by dividing cloves or offsets. We, actually, grow our onions from seed, a labor-intensive process that begins in January and continues through planting in late April.
The alliums of which I write are not pungent, they don’t make your eyes water when you harvest or when you slice them. They are sweet and a little bit spicy. The perfect companion to just about everything I can think of. The leeks are tender. Not fat and tough like the leeks in the supermarket. Slim, with a slight bend to them. Sweet, delicate and gorgeous. The onions are sweet and easy to slice. They go great with salad greens and their after taste doesn’t keep you up all night grabbing for the water glass.
For me, alliums are the most fulfilling of produce to grow. They deserve total respect for their visual impact alone. They are incredibly fun to harvest, requiring a firm tug to reveal their tender roots. It’s all very satisfying to know that you can grow such a majestic specimen from a tiny seed.
Now this isn’t to say that I can live without a sweet Visalia onion. The epitome of onion for topping a hamburger or sautéing into a luscious stew on a winter evening. These onions make their appearance in my kitchen as the weather cools and the bounty of summer is in the rear view mirror.
The onions we’re harvesting now are summer onions. And they are as fleeting as this beautiful season in the Hudson Valley. Enjoy them now while you can.
