Black Onion Seed

[goldilox]

Hi All,
Saturday night I soaked some black onion seed and the next morning put it in my windowsill seed sprouter. The seed was bought specially for sprouting. By this morning some of them were throwing out little white roots.

Three weeks ago I planted some onion seed outside in a tray, and so far none of them have come through.

My question is, if I plant the black onion sproutlets and let them grow into onions, will they be worth eating? Or are they only any good as sprouts?

[alan refail]

If they were "black onion seen" bought for sprouting, I suspect they will be Nigella sativa, otherwise known as kalonji. As you can see from the link, they are not onions. Many years ago when I was getting into Indian cooking I sowed some expecting to get interesting Indian onions - but I got a nice crop of nigella. You can, of course, grow them and save the seed for sprouting.

[nemo]

i soak all my onion seed for 12-24 hours before i sow them i get a higher germination rate.

[goldilox]

Aah, thanks Alan - that explains that one then
I'll just stick to sprouting them.