Photo courtesy of Tobyotter at Flickr.com.
Okay, so tree onions aren’t exactly new under the sun, but they just might be new to you, and they’re certainly one of the most unusual veggies we’ve ever met. In most ways, tree onions are like other onions, and in fact are usually considered a variety of the standard garden onion, Allium cepa—though some botanists argue that they’re a separate species, A. proliferum, while others prefer to think of them as a hybrid between A. cepa and A. fistulosum, the Welsh onion. Whatever they are, they grow well under organic care, and produce 6-10 mild, juicy bulbs per plant.
But unlike most onions, tree onions also produce a cluster of “bulbils,” tiny bulbs, at the top of the plant: hence one of it nicknames, the top or topset onion. When allowed to fully mature, the bulbils will weigh down the onion leaves enough that they lower to the ground, whereupon the bulbils root themselves and propagate. It may be a slow process taking many years, but the fact is that these “walking onions” (another nickname) will in fact “walk” slowly across the landscape if you let them. That’s one way to take over the world.
Tree onions are an excellent choice if you live in a cold climate, because they’re the most cold-hardy of all onions. The base bulbs are excellent for salads, though the bulbils aren’t good for much except pickling and propagation. Incidentally, you may know this onion as the Egyptian onion, though it didn’t originate in Egypt.
Bonus fact: Speaking of Egyptian onions, did you know that the ancient Egyptians were fascinated with this venerable vegetable? To them, the onion’s concentric rings represented eternal life. When archaeologists recovered the mummy of Pharaoh Ramses IV, who died in 1160 BC, they found small onions in his eye sockets.
Looking for a good source of Onion Plants? We recommend Dixondale Farms, the oldest and largest onion plant farm in the United States.
And if you want to learn more about growing onions, try OnionGardening.com
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