Scallions Versus Green Onions!
If you are fond of cooking and trying out new recipes, you must have noticed different types of onions used in recipes of almost all cookbooks. While some may ask you to use green onions, others specifically instruct using scallions.
What’s more, some recipes even use shallots, chives, leeks, and spring onions for cooking up some of the best delicacies out there, that are loved and gorged by you. Now that you desire to try out a couple of them yourself, it would be handy to get the know-how of the ingredients, before you attempt dishing them out.
For starters, let’s begin with the difference between using scallions and green onions. Well, this is a debatable statement that doesn’t seem to conclude. Both belong to the genus Allium of the edible perennial plants but have subtle yet specific differences. Though they can be used as substitutes for one another in recipes, each has its own taste and flavor.
Scallion, itself, is a broad term that includes various types of onions, like green onions, young leeks, and scallions as well, while a green onion is used to describe a new onion harvested while its top is still green and the bulb still small. Read on further as we guide you towards identifying scallions and green onions and differences between the two.
Scallions
The youngest or least mature of onions with extremely thin white bases which are no wider than their long, straight green stalks are called scallions. Their roots are white and stems are dark green and hollow. The white roots have not yet developed into an onion bulb. The mild flavor that they possess makes them a good substitute for chives while preparing a number of recipes. They can be consumed raw and cooked, but are mostly used raw in green salads and as toppings for sauces.
Green Onions
Interchangeably used for scallions, green onions are different from their cousins. The slightly matured scallions are called green onions. They are typified by their long, green, and delicate stalks affixed to small and very slender white bulbs. Even though they have a mild taste, they are out of their ‘green onion’ stage soon to take on the regular pungent flavor of fully grown onion bulbs. Just like scallions, green onions, too, are sliced or chopped raw for garnishing green salads, pasta savories, and baked potatoes. They are also known as bunching onions. While the Americans call them green onions, Australia and England refer to them as spring onions.
Scallions Versus Green Onions
- Pick up green onion and you’ll notice a white root with green leaves, wherein the white root is just beginning to form a bulb shape. As such, a green onion has a bulb-shaped root or is rounded. Conversely, a scallion is characterized by a square root, with only a hint of bulb forming. In short, a scallion is an immature green onion.
- Both the green tops and white bottoms of scallions are edible and most often used in preparing salads and garnishing various sauces. Green onions, on the other hand, are not edible raw and hence, not very flavorsome. However, they make great colorful toppings for vegetable salads, sauces, and baked potatoes, when chopped.
- Talking about flavor, scallions provide a milder taste as against green onions, which have a flavor similar to onions, in contrast.
- Due to the mild flavor, the scallions can be eaten raw or cooked. However, the leaves of green onions give off an unpleasant taste which makes them inedible. Thus, the bulbs of green onions should be cooked before consumption.
- Green onions are matured spring onions, with a distinct flavor and taste of full-grown onions. On the other hand, scallions are completely immature green onions, defined by a really vague rounded shape and stronger flavor, compared to chives.
- You can use green onions in place of scallions but not scallions in place of green onions. Scallions can be used in place of chives.
With the above difference between scallions and green onions, the debate must have been solved to some extent. Now that you are clear with the above info of scallions versus green onions, it’s time to get geared up for cooking a delicious dish!
