Thursday, April 2, 2009

Egyptian Onions


Wow, our Egyptian Onions (Allium cepa viviparum) are up a foot high already!

This remarkable onion develops bulbs at the top of slender green shoots, bypassing the formation of flowers and seeds. It is a curiosity in the vegetable and herb garden. It also happens to be a superb onion - useful top, bottom and in between. All parts are edible. The little top bulbs make excellent small onions to be creamed or boiled with peas; the green stalks can be chopped into salads. They are hollow and make lovely onion rings for garnishing or frying. The bottoms are eaten as any other onion. They are very easy to grow and once you have them you will always have them. Absolutely hardy! Also called top setting onions, winter onions, multiplier onions, or walking onions. The name walking onions is because as the tops mature and get heavy they fall over and slowly creep around the garden. The top will set in July. Don't forget The Rosemary House sells the Egyptian Onions as well as a large selection of other herb plants. Shipping begins in Mid-April.


Onion Soup

1/2 lb. of Any or all parts of the Egyptian Onion
1/4 lb. butter
2 Tbsp. flour
2 Quarts consomme

Saute Onion in butter until wilted; add the flour and brown slightly, then add consomme, slowly while stirring. Simmer 1/2 hour. Serve, strained or not. In each steaming bowl, float a piece of toast, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and thyme, made bubbly under the broiler for two minutes.

3 comments:

Patricia said...

I am really enjoying your tutorials and think I want to try these onions for sure. They are really unique looking. Thank you for sharing all this knowledge.
Pat
Patricia Rose-A Potpourri of Fabric, Fragrance and Findings
www.patriciarose-apotpourri.com
www.patriciarose-apotpourriof.blogspot.com
pmorello@citlink.net

Linda said...

I love growing Egyptian walking onions and have a few posts about them on my blog. Thanks for the recipe.

Anonymous said...

Il semble que vous soyez un expert dans ce domaine, vos remarques sont tres interessantes, merci.

- Daniel