Dear Folks,
Celebrating the Multicultural festivities of December, I thought I would pick an herb or spice which is referenced in the Bible (land of three of the Major Religions of the world) and used in many cuisines around the entire world, as a way of gathering together all the wealth of diversity around us - in true celebration.
Day 22
Herb: Onion, Allium
cepa, Numbers 11:5 "We remember the fish
which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks
and the onions and the garlic, 6 but now our
appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna."
I know many of us would also miss onions from our kitchen. I just have to put some chopped in a hot pan
with a bit of oil or butter and the house already smells like something good is
cooking.
Onions along with garlic and leeks are considered both an herb (because the inside of the bulb is made up of leaves) and a vegetable.
All herbs are "spices" but not all spices are herbs. Herbs are the green, leafy part of the plant, whereas a spice is generally referred to as the dried seed, stem or root.
There is a lot of information on this common vegetable at
Wikipedia, including some of the nutrient information.
Considerable differences exist between onion varieties in
polyphenl content, with shallots having the highest level, six times the amount
found in Vidalia onions, the variety with the smallest amount. 36 37 Yellow
onions have the highest total flavonoid content, an amount 11 times higher than
in white onions.Red onions have considerable content of anthocyanin pigments,
with at least 25 different compounds identified representing 10% of total
flavonoid content. 37 -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onion
It is not surprising that this much-loved food not only adds
great flavor to our dishes, but also healthy components.
Planting:
Onions are planted by either seed or “sets” which are tiny
baby onion bulbs. The typical varieties
of “bulb” onions – the kind we like to keep on hand with a papery skin, can be
grown here in the desert garden.
My practice is to purchase a package of sets in the fall –
preferably before October 31st and start planting them out in
successive planting every 2-4 weeks, about 4 inches apart. I do this so I can pull them as young
scallion-type (there is a specific variety that is grown only as scallions –
but I like the dual purpose of the bulb type) whenever I need some during the
cool months and into spring. To achieve
bulb size the plants need to be in the ground about 7-10 months.
When I harvest for scallions, I pull every 2nd or
3rd one, which eventually leaves more room for the bulb to form on
the remaining ones.
Once the remaining onions begin to send up a flower head,
they can be harvested at any time. Like
Garlic, they need to be hung to dry in the shade until the outer surface gets
papery, then you know they will keep for storage.
[In the picture I show the onions in January and then the
rest harvested in August. I chose to
chop and dry these in the sun so I now had a jar of chopped dried onions to use
as needed all year.]
Onions, yellow, red,
white etc. are also divided into “day length” sensitive growing
preferences.
From the Oregon
Extension Service – this explains what day length means:
The
varieties of onions that require a shorter period (11 to 13 hours) of daylight
to bulb are termed "short day" onions. Those that require the longest
period of daylight (14 hours per day or more) to form bulbs are known as
"long day" onions. Those with intermediate requirements (from 13 to
14 hours of light per day to bulb) are called, logically, "intermediate"
onions.
Short-day
onions include: Yellow Bermuda, White Creole
and Eclipse onions (12 hours daylight to begin bulb formation). California
Early Red, Ebenezer, Early Strasburg (13 hours).
Long
day onions include: Yellow Globe Danvers
(14 1/4 hours) Sweet Spanish, Yellow Flat Grant (14.9 hours) and Yellow
Rynsburg, Zittan Yellow (16 hours).
Intermediate-day
onions include: Early Yellow Globe, Australian Brown, White Portugal and Southport Yellow Globe (13.5 hours)
Red Wethersfield, Southport
Red Globe, Italian Red and Flat Madiera (14 hours). -- http://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/onion-bulb-formation-strongly-linked-day-length
Here in the desert garden where onions won’t happily grow in
our 100 degree summer heat, you want to stay with short-day varieties and you
can try intermediate types to see if they work for you.
Short-day anything applies to growing in the cool months in
the desert garden because that is what we have – short days. [Corn is another vegetable that is also
classified as short or long day which is why we can plant corn twice – once in
the winter and a second crop in the summer.]
Recipes:
There is no dearth of ways to use onions. Sliced and grilled along side burgers and
other meats on the grill is one of my favorite ones. Like many vegetables, grilling or roasting
onions caramelizes the sugars making them taste even better.
One of my other favorite ways to use onions is a dill and
onion dip with yogurt (instead of sour cream) with my own dried dill and onions,
add a bit of salt and you are ready.
Good tasting and healthier too if you go with a variety of dippers, like
vegetables, instead of just chips. This
dip makes a good topping on baked potatoes and if you add a bit of horseradish,
good on a steak, roast beef or burger.
Did you know there is a National Onion Association? Every vegetable has to have a group-support
network :-) They have some good
sounding recipes with onions. https://www.onions-usa.org/recipes
Music:
Suzy Snowflake
Rosemary Clooney
Mary’s Boy Child
Boney M
-- Catherine, The Herb Lady
My books and month-by-month gardening calendar
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