Harvesting alli-yums

07/11/2002
Harvesting alli-yums

In my cooking, if I had to choose between salt and members of the allium family--garlic, onions, shallots, leeks, chives and their ilk--I'd choose alliums without hesitation. I simply can't imagine life without them. Vinaigrette without a chopped shallot? Pesto without garlic? In fact, a majority of the things I cook begin with some member of this flavorful family being chopped and gently cooked in olive oil or butter.

Although onions, garlic, and shallots are relatively cheap to buy in the grocery store, you're missing out on lots of nuance and flavor if you never bother to grow them yourself. First of all, there's the pleasure--as with all vegetables--of growing unusual and heirloom varieties with outstanding flavor. In the tribe of onions, for example, for me this means the cipollino onion, a small, very flat, fine grained onion that is succulently flavorful.

But even better, when you grow your own alliums, you get to enjoy them at all the stages of their growth--most notably, the "immature" stages. For instance, you'll get to experience green garlic. This the young garlic plant (usually this stage is reached in May from a fall-planted crop) before it starts forming individual cloves. Resembling a slender leek, green garlic has a mouthwatering, delicate flavor, distinctly but mildly garlic, with grassy, leek-like overtones. Green garlic is, quite simply, a delicacy.

Young immature onions, just starting to form bulbs, are just as delectable. Widely sold in French markets under the moniker "oignons blancs", or "white onions", they differ from our "scallions" in that they already have a bulb forming and are in fact much more delicately flavored than a scallion. They are also much less fibrous, cooking in an instant to a mouthwatering tenderness.

The same is true of course of shallots. Plus, if you're lucky, you might find a source for the ultra-flavorful French gray shallot, which packs about 5 times the flavor of other varieties and is hidden inside a shell-like carapace of extremely hard peel.

Now that I've hopefully convinced you to grow these humble vegetables, let me say a few words about just how to do it and then, how to harvest and store them. I won't talk about leeks as I've already rambled on about them elsewhere on this page.

Onions are planted from small transplants that are easy to grow yourself from seed, which is what you'll have to do if you want to try some unusual varieties. Start the seed in January, as onion plants can be set out very very early in spring--just about as soon as you can get into the soil. Prepare a bed that is rich in organic matter and has had plenty of manure forked into it as all the allium group are heavy feeders. Set the transplants rather shallowly.



As the plants start to grow and form bulbs, it is very important to start pulling the soil away from the shoulders of the bulbs. This helps them grow bigger, mature solidly, and minimize pest problems. Sometime in June or July, you'll notice that a few of the onion tops have bent over at ground level. When this happens, bend over the rest of them until they start to show signs of withering. Then harvest your onions. Gather them in small bundles or braids and hang them in a cool, dry place to cure.



Garlic is a snap to plant. Simply separate heads of a variety you like into individual cloves, and plant them about 6" apart in a rich, well-prepared bed in late fall. Mulch if you are Zone 5a or north. The cloves shoud be planted a couple of inches deep. The plants may already sprout in the fall. Don't worry about it.

When spring comes, the shoots will rapidly elongate, resembling those of leeks. Sometime in June, you'll notice flower stems starting to develop on some of your plants. When this happens, gather the leaves of each plant together and tie them in a knot, as in the photo at right. (This is exactly what you should not do with your flowering bulb foliage in the spring.) This helps stop the growth of the tops and keeps the plant from putting its energy into flowering and producing seed, instead throwing it toward ripening the bulb. Unlike for onions, leave the soil intact around the bulb.

When the tops start to turn brown, dig up the bulbs and let the entire plants dry in the garden for a day or two, then move them to a cool, well-ventilated spot until the tops are thoroughly dry. Brush the soil off the bulbs, without breaking the outside skin around the cloves, which inhibits them from sprouting.

Bundle or braid the tops for hanging, or cut them off and store the bulbs in net or burlap bags, in a cool--not cold--spot. Do not refrigerate garlic! Chilling causes the garlic to sprout, a highly undesirable event which causes it to become extremely strong-tasting. That's why garlic is best fall-planted; the chill of winter causes strong sprouting.



Shallots are handled just like garlic. Plant the shallot bulbs in the fall and mulch in colder areas. The plants will develop as in the main photo at the head of the article, forming a cluster of shallot bulbs joined at the root end. Pull the soil away from the maturing bulbs as you would for onions. When they are plump and the tops show signs of flagging, pull them, break them apart into individual bulbs, and dry, and store as for garlic.

Once you bring your alliums into the kitchen, you can hang the braids or bunches if consume them quickly, but if it takes you a while, they are better stored in ventilated, pottery jars specially designed for the purpose (see our product listings below). The dark ventilated environment provided by the jars helps keep them from sprouting, as well as containing the mess of the shedding skins.

Having your own braids of flavorful onions, garlic, and shallots on hand through fall and winter not only gives you the foundation of countless flavorful dishes, but supplies you with beautiful kitchen decorations for yourself and friends--decorations that will be devoured, one by one.

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Products of Interest:
Vallée Noire stoneware garlic jar
Vallée Noire stoneware shallot jar
Vallée Noire stoneware onion jar