Allium ascalonicum seed

LATIN NAME: ALLIUM ASCALONICUM

COMMON NAME: Shallot

In the garden beds of the temperate world, the shallot grows as a neat, clumping, perennial onion with the slender, hollow, grey-green leaves and the round heads of small, pinkish-white flowers on the tall, hollow stems, the clusters of small, mild bulbs forming at the base. Growth is steadily, the plant forming a rounded crown that reaches 5-10 metres. It does well in the sun and the deep, rich, moist ground.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The shallot appears in the studies of the cultivated onions of the old world, its mild bulbs and its round flower heads keeping it in view in the work on the vegetable crops of the temperate kitchen garden and the allium breeding of the mild forms. The research looks at the way the bulb clusters divide and fatten, the round heads ripen to the black seeds, and the seed biology of the small, black, short-lived seeds.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

In the kitchen garden, the shallot gives the mild, sweet bulbs that have flavoured the sauces and the pickles of the fine kitchens for centuries. The neat clump needs little room, and the plant makes the fine culinary crop, the gourmet bulb and the easy allium of the kitchen plot. It is a plant for the open, sunny, deep and rich place.

To grow the Shallot from seed, sow the black seeds thinly in drills of fine, moist soil.

Sow the black seeds thinly in drills of fine, moist soil, and keep the young shallots in the open, sunny spot. The mild bulbs divide through the season.

LATIN NAME: Allium ascalonicum

COMMON NAME: Shallot

The shallot is a neat, clumping, onion-like plant of the vegetable gardens, and its mild, fine-flavoured bulbs and its slender, hollow leaves have made it one of the most valued of the kitchen crops. It forms a compact, leafy clump, reaching thirty to sixty centimetres. It is a species of the flowering plant in the onion family, and it is native to the central Asia, while it is grown in the vegetable gardens of the world, and it is known as the shallot.

The shallot belongs to the onion family, Amaryllidaceae, and it is a species of the bulbous perennial, native to the central Asia, while it is grown as a kitchen crop, and it is known as the shallot. It is prized for its mild, fine-flavoured bulbs and its easy, dependable growth.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The shallot has a real and distinguished place in the research. It has been studied in the food science and the nutrition, since its mild, fine-flavoured bulbs are rich in the valuable nutrients, and researchers have examined the composition of the bulb, while the value of the shallot in the kitchen has drawn attention in the international food and nutrition press as a fine-flavoured onion of the world. The plant has also been studied in the agriculture and the horticulture, since it is a clumping, easy, dependable crop of the vegetable garden, and researchers have examined its growth, its yield and its cultivation, while the growing of the shallots in the garden has been of continuing interest, and the selection of the many forms has been of value to the gardeners. The species has also been studied in the botany and the ecology, since it is a native of the dry hills of the central Asia, and its relationships, its distribution and its role in the wild have been examined, while the study of the onions and their relatives has been of continuing interest, and the diversity of the genus Allium has been of value. For a crop of such usefulness, the shallot has a rich and continuing record of study.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

Ecologically, the shallot is a generous plant of the garden. Its rounded heads of the small, pale-purple or white, starry flowers feed the bees and the many insects, and its neat, clumping base gives a tidy presence to the vegetable bed. It is a dependable crop that stores well in the kitchen, and it is a favourite of the fine cooks, who prize its mild, gentle flavour, and its bulbs keep well through the winter.

Its economic value is real. The shallot is prized for its mild, fine-flavoured bulbs, and its value has drawn attention in the international food and nutrition press as a fine-flavoured onion of the world, while its bulbs have been used in the cooking of the many lands, and its fine flavour has made it a favourite of the fine kitchens. For a grower, the shallot is an easy and rewarding crop, and for a gardener it brings a neat, clumping, fine-flavoured crop to the vegetable garden. The seeds are easy to start — sow them just below the surface of a pot or a seed bed of moist, free-draining soil, keep them lightly watered, and theyll be sprouting readily, growing on into a neat, clumping, fine-flavoured crop.

This genus also contains several other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion (Allium fistulosum), the tree onion (A. ×proliferum), and the Canada onion (Allium canadense). The name “wild onion” is applied to a number of Allium species, but A. cepa is exclusively known from cultivation. Its ancestral wild original form is not known, although escapes from cultivation have become established in some regions.[4] The onion is most frequently a biennial or a perennial plant, but is usually treated as an annual and harvested in its first growing season.

The onion plant has a fan of hollow, bluish-green leaves and its bulb at the base of the plant begins to swell when a certain day-length is reached. The bulbs are composed of shortened, compressed, underground stems surrounded by fleshy modified scale (leaves) that envelop a central bud at the tip of the stem. In the autumn (or in spring, in the case of overwintering onions), the foliage dies down and the outer layers of the bulb become dry and brittle. The crop is harvested and dried and the onions are ready for use or storage. The crop is prone to attack by a number of pests and diseases, particularly the onion fly, the onion eelworm, and various fungi cause rotting. Some varieties of A. cepa, such as shallots and potato onions, produce multiple bulbs.

Onions are cultivated and used around the world. As a food item, they are usually served cooked, as a vegetable or part of a prepared savoury dish, but can also be eaten raw or used to make pickles or chutneys. They are pungent when chopped and contain certain chemical substances which irritate the eyes.