I don’t think you would be able to find scallions quite this big at the grocery store. Popular in Chinese cooking along garlic and ginger as the base aromatics for most dishes, the white portions can be used just as you would onion while the greens are perfect for a garnish and bringing a nice brightness when sliced thinly and added fresh to dishes.
In the list Nichols sent me, they had noted bell peppers for this week but not onions. Yet when we received the shares, onions and peppers! My guess is that as we near the end of the pepper season, there weren’t quite enough for all of the CSA shares Nichols does (>1000 per week) so they added some onions to compensate. Rather than giving half shares half a pepper, we thought it’d be nice to just slice them up along with the onions for a fajita mix. Definitely prioritize using these up first compared to the other things in the share since they’ll go bad the quickest. Hope you all enjoy it!
Onions are the poster child for the group of vegetables called alliums which includes garlic, leek, shallots, and chives. The distinctive flavor of alliums is due to sulfur compounds that work as irritants resulting in the spiciness of alliums. When cells are damaged by cutting or chewing, enzymes are released that breakdown sulfur compounds into smaller volatile compounds that give the raw allium flavor. Cooking causes these compounds to react with each other creating a range of different flavor molecules creating a depth of flavor. This complexity is why we love alliums so much that they are ubiquitous across dishes and cuisines.
