While a yellow onion and a red onion are obviously different, it’s not as easy to tell the difference among all the fresh onions with long green leaves and white tips that come in springtime. Think they’re the same? Think again.
Scallions (also called green onions): Note the white tip with the frilly roots. Edible all the way through the stalks, excluding those frills, the white end packs more oniony heat while the green part is milder and grassier. Eat them raw or cooked.
Spring onions: They look similar, but notice the small to medium bulb on the white end. These are bulb onions that were harvested and are eaten fresh, before growing into bigger bulb onions that are eaten after they’re dried and aged. They’re great raw or pickled.
See also:
Garlic scapes: These are tender, young garlic shoots that pop up in spring from hardneck garlic, harvested in fall. Delicious raw or cooked.
Leeks: These have the mildest, most delicate flavor of alliums. Eat only the white and pale-green part, making sure to cut lengthwise and rinse or soak carefully to remove sand. Best cooked.
Ramps: A garlic-onion hybrid, ramps are wild and are a favorite for foragers, with a pinkish white bulb that’s often left in the dirt so it will return next spring. Often cooked or pickled.
(Sources: Food & Wine, Bon Appétit, Kitchn)
