Page 150 - South Mississippi Living - May, 2025

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story by Gaye Winter
Whether you love them or hate them, call them green onions or scallions, this popular vegetable signifies one of the first flavors of spring!
Green onions or scallions are usually available in Mississippi from March onwards. Green onions have a milder taste than other onions. Green onions and scallions are the same thing, there are just two different names for the same vegetable, which is a young onion with long green stalks and a white bulb, and they can both be used in recipes. Cutting up these onions for salads and soups make them a very diverse veggie as scallions take well to cooking and sweeten under the heat of being simmered or sautéed.
Green onions are part of the lily family. They are known in some places as the Welsh Onion.
This tasty vegetable is known to be about 8-12 inches long and go from red or white root ends to bright green hollow stalks. Make sure when you are cooking that the green stalk shows no signs of yellow. Also, they should be straight; if the stalks are curled, it is a sign of age. You can choose thicker onions for a heartier taste to go with grilling or roasting. Thinner scallions work on salads and soups for a milder taste.
Before I go any further, chives and green onions are not the same thing. They are both members of the onion family, but they have different textures, flavors, and uses. Although they both have a mild onion flavor, green onions and chives are
not the same thing because chives are thinner, smaller, and much more delicate than green onions. Also, chives don’t have an edible bulb at the bottom. They both have their uses in cooking.
Choosing organic is always a good choice at the grocery store. If buying from a local farmer’s market, check with the farmer to discuss the growing conditions including pesticide usage.
Once you get your onions home, thoroughly clean the hollow
stems which easily trap dirt and bacteria. After they are washed and dried, you can wrap them in damp paper towels, and put them in reusable plastic bags to keep them fresh.
You can pickle green onions very easily – just cut them into lengths and pack them tightly into a jar. Boil equal parts of water and vinegar. Seasoning with salt and maybe a bit of sugar as well as spices of your choice (celery seeds, chilies, and mustard seeds) will enhance the flavor of the pickled onions. Stir well and pour brine over the green onions. Let cool, then cover and refrigerate for at least one day. They will stay edible for three weeks in the fridge. Yum!
Allicin is a compound found in garlic that is also found in green onions. This compound fights fungi and bacteria and can lower cholesterol levels. It also acts as an antioxidant.
In Chinese medicine, the white portion of the onion is used to treat everything from kidney stones to the common cold. These onions contain Vitamin A and C and offer pectin, fatty acids, cellulose, as well as starch and sugars to your diet.
Green onions can be grown in South Mississippi in a variety of ways, including seeds, transplants, or by re-growing store-bought green onions. For more information, check out extension.msstate.edu.
Since onions are so good for us, how can we grow some of our own? Just set the roots in a jar of water on your windowsill. Make sure to add water before it all evaporates and, in a week, or so, you should have some new onions to pickle or use in your tasty recipes.
Gaye Winter, Ph.D., teaches English at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and is a member of Biloxi Garden Club. Reach her at gaye.winter@mgccc.edu.
150 | May 2025
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