How do shallots scallions onions leeks etc. compare chem/physically?
” Oh, alliums: you are so tasty. And there are a lot of you. Upwards of 750 types. So many, in fact, that I’m not going to try to catalog you all. Still, we can do a quick tour. Alliums are perrinnels, meaning that if you plant them once and maintain them, they’ll bloom year after year. If you plant them once and eat them, they will probably have a difficult time blooming, however, so you might have to re-plant them. Alliums are generally bulbous, like tulips. Most of the time, we eat the bulb, especially in the case of onions, shallots, and garlic. Occasionally we eat the leaves, in the case of garlic, chives, and leeks. The bulbs are the batteries of the plant world. Throughout the year, the onions and their ilk will grow some leaves, soak up nutrients, absorb sunlight, and store it all in the bulb, which is hidden safely underground. When winter comes, and the weather turns unfriendly, the allium can remain safely underground until the weather turns nice, then use all of that energy
