Know your Dutch Shallots
Know your Dutch Shallots - Introduction
The Dutch shallot is an aggregate bulb of the multiplier onion, a variety of the onion family, and correctly named Allium cepa L. var. aggregatum.
Dutch multiplier onions are those that grow an aggregation of smaller onion bulbs, rather than a single, large bulb.
Indian names are kanda or gandana (Hindi, Marwari and Punjabi), gundhun (Bengali) and chinna vengayam (Telugu).
Dutch shallots have coppery brown skin, while others are pinkish or a greyish-brown.
The taste has been described as sweeter than the mildest onion.
A slight apple flavour mingles with the familiar onion bite.
Shallots have been shown to be more digestible than the rest of the onion family and have less of an impact on the breath.
Know your Dutch Shallots - Origins
Dutch multiplier onions, see photo right, are a species that grows wild from Central to Southwest Asia.
The multiplier onion was one of the foods that the Crusaders brought from the Middle East back to Europe.
The multiplier onion was formerly classified as the species Allium ascalonicum after Ascalon, an ancient city in Israel. That name is now considered to be a synonym after taxonomists changed the name to Allium cepa var. aggregatum to fit them in with the rest of the onion family.
Allium cepa var. aggregatum forma 'Potato Onion'
The Dutch shallot is considered by many to refer to small varieties of the Potato Onion, see photo above, reinforced by the potato onion also sharing the botanical name Allium cepa L. var. aggregatum.
The name Baby Potato Onion is sometime applied instead of shallot, which results in a correct name of Allium cepa var. aggregatum forma 'Baby Potato Onion'. This name would probably be more popular if the potato onion was itself not so rare.
Know your Shallots - French Shallot
The term "shallot" is used for the French challot, Allium oschaninii, which is considered by many to be the "true shallot".
The French shallot grey variety is called a griselle and many European chefs prefer using French shallots in their cuisine because of their strong and delicious flavour.
Know your Shallots - Scallions
In Australia, the term "shallot" is generic and can also refer to scallions, while the term eschalot is used to refer to Allium cepa L. var. aggregatum.
Know your Shallots - Persian Shallot
The Persian shallot is Allium hirtifolium Boiss., and is different from the common Dutch shallot.
It is white-skinned and each plant has one or rarely two bulbs, while the common shallot is reddish-brown skinned and each plant can contain as many as 15 bulbs.
It grows wild across the Zagros Mountains in different provinces of Iran.
