All Topics  
Welsh onion

 
Welsh Onion

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Welsh onion
 
 
  Topics Welsh onion Topic Home

Allium fistulosum L., widely known as the Welsh Onion or Spring Onion, is a member of the onion
Onion

Onion is a term used for many plants in the genus Allium. They are known by the common name "onion" but, used without qualifiers, it usually refers to Allium cepa....
 family, Alliaceae
Alliaceae

Alliaceae is a Family of herbaceous perennial plant flowering plants. They are monocots, part of Order Asparagales. The family has been widely but not universally recognised; in the past, the plants involved were often treated as belonging to the family Liliaceae, and still are by some botanists....
. The species is very similar in taste and odor to the related garden onion
Onion

Onion is a term used for many plants in the genus Allium. They are known by the common name "onion" but, used without qualifiers, it usually refers to Allium cepa....
, Allium cepa, and hybrids between the two (tree onion
Tree onion

Tree onions are a strong-growing onion with a bunch of bulblets where a normal onion would have flowers.They are members of the "proliferum" cultivar of the onion , and are also commonly called Top Onions, Topset Onions, Walking Onions, or Egyptian onions....
s) exist. The Welsh onion, however, does not develop bulb
Bulb

A bulb is an underground vertical shoot that has modified leaf that are used as food storage organs by a dormancy plant.A bulb's leaf bases generally do not support leaves, but contain food reserves to enable the plant to survive adverse conditions....
s, and possesses hollow leaves
Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
 (fistulosum means "hollow") and scape
Scape (botany)

In botany, scapes are flowering stems, usually leafless, rising from the crown or roots of a plant. Scapes can have a single flower or many flowers, depending on the species....
s. Large varieties of the Welsh onion resemble the leek
Leek

The leek, Allium ampeloprasum var. porrum , also sometimes known as Allium porrum, is a vegetable which belongs, along with the onion and garlic, to the Alliaceae family....
, such as the Japanese 'negi', whilst smaller varieties resemble chives
Chives

Chives are the smallest species of the onion family Alliaceae, native to Europe, Asia and North America. They are referred to only in the plural, because they grow in clumps rather than as individual plants....
.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Welsh onion'
Start a new discussion about 'Welsh onion'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Allium fistulosum L., widely known as the Welsh Onion or Spring Onion, is a member of the onion
Onion

Onion is a term used for many plants in the genus Allium. They are known by the common name "onion" but, used without qualifiers, it usually refers to Allium cepa....
 family, Alliaceae
Alliaceae

Alliaceae is a Family of herbaceous perennial plant flowering plants. They are monocots, part of Order Asparagales. The family has been widely but not universally recognised; in the past, the plants involved were often treated as belonging to the family Liliaceae, and still are by some botanists....
. The species is very similar in taste and odor to the related garden onion
Onion

Onion is a term used for many plants in the genus Allium. They are known by the common name "onion" but, used without qualifiers, it usually refers to Allium cepa....
, Allium cepa, and hybrids between the two (tree onion
Tree onion

Tree onions are a strong-growing onion with a bunch of bulblets where a normal onion would have flowers.They are members of the "proliferum" cultivar of the onion , and are also commonly called Top Onions, Topset Onions, Walking Onions, or Egyptian onions....
s) exist. The Welsh onion, however, does not develop bulb
Bulb

A bulb is an underground vertical shoot that has modified leaf that are used as food storage organs by a dormancy plant.A bulb's leaf bases generally do not support leaves, but contain food reserves to enable the plant to survive adverse conditions....
s, and possesses hollow leaves
Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
 (fistulosum means "hollow") and scape
Scape (botany)

In botany, scapes are flowering stems, usually leafless, rising from the crown or roots of a plant. Scapes can have a single flower or many flowers, depending on the species....
s. Large varieties of the Welsh onion resemble the leek
Leek

The leek, Allium ampeloprasum var. porrum , also sometimes known as Allium porrum, is a vegetable which belongs, along with the onion and garlic, to the Alliaceae family....
, such as the Japanese 'negi', whilst smaller varieties resemble chives
Chives

Chives are the smallest species of the onion family Alliaceae, native to Europe, Asia and North America. They are referred to only in the plural, because they grow in clumps rather than as individual plants....
. Welsh onions can multiply by forming perennial evergreen clumps.

Besides Welsh onion, Allium fistulosum is known as 'scallion
Scallion

A scallion, also commonly known as spring onion, green onion, or salad onion, is associated with various members of the genus Allium that lack a fully-developed bulb....
', 'green onion', 'spring onion' and 'Japanese bunching onion'. However, these names are ambiguous, as some may also be used to refer to any young green onion stalk, whether grown from Welsh onions, traditional bulbing onions, or other members of the onion family.

Welsh onion is known in French as 'ciboule', and in Portuguese as cebolinha or cozida. Historically, the Welsh onion was known as the 'cibol'.

The name 'Welsh onion' is a misnomer
Misnomer

A misnomer is a term which suggests an interpretation that is known to be untrue. Such incorrect terms sometimes derived their names because of the form, action, or origin of the subject?becoming named popularly or widely referenced?long before their true natures were known....
 in modern English, as Allium fistulosum is not indigenous to Wales
Wales

native_name = Cymru|conventional_long_name = Wales|common_name = Wales|image_flag = Flag of Wales 2.svg|national_motto = ...
. "Welsh" preserves the original meaning of the Old English word welisc, or old German 'welsche', meaning "foreign". The species originated in Asia, possibly Siberia
Siberia

Siberia , is the name given to the vast region constituting almost all of North Asia and for the most part currently serving as the massive central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, having served in the same capacity previously for the Soviet Union from its beginning, and the Russian Empire beginning in the 16th century....
 or China
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
. Welsh onions are known as ? (pinyin
Pinyin

Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most commonly used Romanization system for Standard Mandarin. Hanyu is the Chinese Language, and pinyin means "phonetics", or more literally, "spelling sound" or "spelled sound"....
: cong) in Chinese
Chinese language

Chinese or the Sinitic language is a language family consisting of language mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan languages of languages....
, ? or ?? in Japanese
Japanese language

IPA: [n?iho?go] is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is related to the Ryukyuan languages....
 (the Japanese transliteration
Transliteration

Transliteration is the practice of transcribing a word or text written in one writing system into another writing system or system of rules for such practice....
, 'negi', is another term for Welsh onions), ? ('pa') in Korean
Korean language

Korean is the official language of North Korea and South Korea. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China....
 and hành lá or hành ta in Vietnamese
Vietnamese language

Vietnamese , formerly known under French colonization as Annamese , is the national language and official language language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of the Vietnamese people , who constitute 86% of Demographics of Vietnam, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese, most of whom live in the United States....
.

Uses


The Welsh onion is widely used in cooking. It is a particularly important ingredient in Asian cuisine
Asian cuisine

Asian cuisine styles can be broken down into several regional styles that have roots in the peoples and cultures of those regions. The major types can be roughly defined as East Asian with its origins in Imperial era of Chinese history and now encompassing modern Japan and the Korean peninsula; Southeast Asian which encompasses th...
, especially in East
East Asia

East Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either Geography or cultural terms. Geography and geopolitically, it covers about 12,000,000 km?, or about 28 percent of the Asian continent, about 15 percent bigger than the area of Europe, though some categorize Tibet, Xinjiang, and Mongolia as Central Asia....
 and Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India and north of Australia....
. It is used in Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
 in the spring for adding green leaves to salads. In Japan it is used in miso soup
Miso soup

is a traditional Japanese cuisine soup consisting of a Stock called "dashi" into which is mixed softened miso paste. Although the suspension of miso paste into dashi is the only characteristic that actually defines miso soup, many other ingredients are added depending on regional and seasonal recipes, and personal preference....
, negimaki
Negimaki

, also called negima, is a Japanese cuisine food consisting of broiled strips of beef marinated in teriyaki sauce and rolled with scallions . They are thought to have originated from the Kanto region of Japan....
 (beef and scallion rolls) and in the takoyaki
Takoyaki

is a popular Japanese dumpling made of batter , diced or whole baby octopus, tempura scraps , beni shoga, and Welsh onion, topped with okonomiyaki sauce, green laver , mayonnaise, and katsuobushi , originating from Osaka....
 dumpling
Dumpling

Dumplings, as defined in a standard English dictionary, fall in two main categories: these are either "piece[s] of dough, sometimes filled, that are cooked in liquid such as water or soup" or alternatively "sweetened dough wrapped around fruit, such as an apple, baked and served as a dessert." More generally, dumplings may be any of a wi...
 dish, among others.

In Vietnam
Vietnam

Vietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by People's Republic of China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east....
, Welsh onion is one of important ingredients to cook dua hành (a kind of kimchi
Kimchi

Kimchi, also spelled gimchi or kimchee, is a traditional Korean pickled dish made of vegetables with varied seasonings, most commonly referring to the spicy baechu variety....
) served for T?t
T?t

T?t Nguy?n ??n , more commonly known by its shortened name T?t, is the most important and popular Holidays in Vietnam and festival in Vietnam....
 festival. A kind of sauce- m? hành (Welsh onion fried in oil) is used in some dished such as com t?m, bánh ít, cà tím nu?ng and others. Welsh onion is also the only ingredient in the dish cháo hành (a dish for treat the common cold
Common cold

Acute viral rhinopharyngitis, or acute coryza, usually known as the common cold, is a highly contagious, virus infectious disease of the upper respiratory system, primarily caused by picornaviruses or coronaviruses....
) which became a symbol of awaking the human honest in the famous literature work: "Chí Phèo" written by Nam Cao
Nam Cao

Tran Huu Tri , commonly known by his pseudonym Nam Cao, was an eminent Vietnamese short story author and novelist. His works generally received high acclaims from critics for their thoughtful description and veracious reflection of the society in the 1945 era....
.

It is often grown in a bunch as an ornamental plant
Ornamental plant

Ornamental plants are typically grown in the flower garden or as house plants. Most commonly they are grown for the display of their flowers. Other common ornamental features include leaves, scent, fruit, Plant stem and bark....
.

It is also the object of spinning in the leekspin internet phenomenon.

In Hungary
Hungary

Hungary , officially in English the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia....
 it is called póré hagyma - peasant's onion.

External links