Kitchen Garden Forum

Westi made a comment in Bits and Bobs that she thought shallots give you back much more than an onion. I was debating this with myself because I'm short of growing space so everything I grow has to earn its keep. If you could only grow one - shallots or onions, which would you grow and why?

I'm growing a few of each this year but am unsure which provides the best value for the space they take. I'd love to try grow the massive shallots which are the size of medium onions that I've seen for sale on my village fruit & veg stall) but can't find out what they're called or where to obtain them. They're much bigger than Jemor, which are the largest ones I've seen available in garden centres.

If you are a way from self sufficient so buying things anyway it is easier to buy good Onions than Shallots.
I grow two varieties of Shallot from seed (way too late for you this year); Matador for pickling, Cuisses de Poulet du Poitou (aka Zebrune) for cooking. We have discussed "Shallots from Seed" before viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7993&hilit=shallots (I've changed varieties since then).

Shallots every time if you're short of space. As Geoff says, it's easy to buy good onions especially for us from the Sioni Winwns.
viewtopic.php?p=100026#p100026

Other than overwintering onions (which have failed completely this time), I have not grown onions for two years now for three reasons:
- onions usually grow too large for a meal for (mainly) just two people
- the taste of shallots is just slightly more delicate and
- they seem to keep longer than onions. We have only just finished using last year's crop and even the last one was still healthy and firm.

I don't grow for pickling, only for using in meals in place of onions. Thanks to Geoff''s advice, the growing from seeds has been really easy.

This year I am growing Jermor (from sets planted in October), Golden Gourmet (from sets planted in pots in cold greenhouse and planted outside earlier this year) and Ambition (from seeds). The Jermor which have been outside all winter are a bit iffy, but Golden Gourmet and Ambition are doing well.

Monica, to what size do your Golden Gourmet and Ambition grow? I'm looking for a larger shallot than Jemour if I can find one.

All Shallots from seed grow to a decent size, the Matador are often a bit big for pickling. I tend to grow medium sized Onions by growing them in clumps and would say Zebrune are about half the size. These are Prisma and Picador from 2010.

Oh I always admire people who have the patience to string up all their onions and shallots . Mine normally end up being stored in an open box, or a string bag if one if they're lucky and I can find one.

Geoff mentions the Cuisse de Poulet, Zebrune, or banana shallot, which I have grown from seed, and really enjoy. Correct me if I am wrong, but this shallot is just an onion of a different shape - yes? When planted, the mature bulb does not form daughter bulbs like a 'real' shallot, it just goes to seed.
Or - what defines an onion and a shallot?

Quotes from "Vegetables" by Phillips and Rix.

Onions and shallots are both forms of Allium cepa and are closely related to leeks, chives, garlic and Chinese chives.
Onions may be brown, yellow, white, red or purple skins and may be globe-shaped, flattened globe or spindle-shaped.
Shallots are like small onions which grow as a bunch of bulbs, and are used when only a small quantity of onion is needed.
Shallots differ in colour as much as onions and in the number and size of bulbs produced.

There is much discussion/photographs of onions but little mention of shallots. It seems a shallot should be a set that divides when planted the second year and an onion should go to seed the second year so, as you say, the shallots we grow from seed are really onions from another culture that has named them shallots. Whatever, Primrose should grow Zebrune next year!

Cuisse de Poulet means Chicken Thigh - typical British reserve to name them Banana! At a certain time of year Aldi seem to get them in. They are a lovely sweet 'onion'.

Primrose. Re storing shallots. See your local fruit & veg man. Ask for mushroom containers. These are blue perforated stackable one way trip mushroom boxes, made out of plastic. Ideal for storing shallots.

Good idea. Tip: bind some pieces of thin cane with string, onto all four sides at the top to make them last longer.

Primrose, I am only growing Golden Gourmet for the first time this year, so I don't know their size, but the largest of Ambition usually grow to about golf ball size but most are smaller (which I want). I have also previously grown red banana shallots but found that they don't usually keep beyond about Christmas.

As for keeping: I store shallots and garlic on wire netting trays in the frostfree garage below a north-facing window, so they have light but no sun.

When I grew onions, I always sowed in groups of 7 or 8 (as recommended by Geoff Hamilton many years ago), but even then some of them attained about cricket ball size which was too large for my liking!

Dear Monika, regarding some of your onions getting a little too large, i'm afraid that is down to you having really good fertile soil, after many years of very hard work by yourselves.

Thank you, OH, that was a very kind comment! It's the honest Yorkshire muck that does it.