# Scallions vs. green onions



## Lilanne

What is the difference between scallions and green onions? Are you supposed to use a different part of the plant (top greens only) or is it the size of the onion that makes the dif. SB diet uses either term in their recipes and I'm confused.


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## GB

It depends on what part of the county or world you are in. By me they are considered the same thing.


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## buckytom

same thing here too, scallions are considered the same as green onions. but my neighbors grow an onion that is half way between scallion, which they call spring onions, and regular onions. it looks like a fat bulbed scallion, a little smaller than a golf ball, which they call a green onion. 
for scallions, depending on the dish you can use all of it, or just the white part. sometimes the green part can be a little bitter, in which case you may not want to eat it. otherwise, i always use the whole scallion.

btw, if you get the chance, buy or make scallion kimchi. it rocks!!!


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## licia

They are the same thing here also.


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## Lilanne

Thanks everyone.Also I'm glad to hear the word about spring onions. I've seen both at store and wondered dif. What is kimshi?


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## lindatooo

lol Kimchee is an acquired taste!  My BIL used to call his daughter "Kimchee" when they lived in Korea - I was told the literal translation is "rotten cabbage"!


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## urmaniac13

Whoa... so scallion is the same thing as green onion?
I thought it was this thing...







I just assumed so because it is "scalogno" in Italian and the dictionary also says scalogno=scallion... 
They are much smaller than onion, but has more intense flavour, with a touch of garlicky taste to it... what do you call this in English??


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## Poppinfresh

That's a shallot.

As for scallion/green onion...I've always labelled the white the "green onion" and the green part the "scallion"


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## urmaniac13

Poppinfresh said:
			
		

> That's a shallot.


 
Thanks Poppinfresh!!... I did the google image search and "shallot" matched the image!!


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## buckytom

but is it a shall-et, or shull-lot?

like chaw-colate, or chock-olate.

or-ange, or are-ange...


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## Poppinfresh

Depends on where you live.  In Canada they call them shuh-LOTs, best I can tell.  In America, everybody calls them SHALL-uts.

I do have one question though...there was someone in an earlier post that said it had a more intense flavor...are there different kinds of em that I'm not aware of?  Every shallot I've ever used/eaten has always been real mild and mellow in flavor--which is why I use so many of them (the lady of the house is not a big onion fan in general so in a few dishes in which the onion flavor really needs to be one of the dominant tastes, I end up substituting a shallot for a yellow)


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## licia

you say potatoes - I say pototoes


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## buckytom

in irish, it's puh-tay-ya-toes. (say it with a brogue.)  

i agree about the shallots, being more mild than regular onions, but they are kinda half way to being garlic as well. sort of a mild garlicy onion, or a mild oniony garlic.


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## urmaniac13

You like po-tay-to and I like po-tah-to,
You like to-may-to, and I like to-mah-to
potayto, potahto, tomayto, tomahto,
Let's call the whole thing off  

I don't know if "intense" was the right word, but I usually use less amount of "shallot" than I would do with onions, and the effect is just as good... the flavour is more "enhancing" should I say?


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## Andy M.

Green onion is a category within the onion family.  Chives, scallions, leeks and spring onions are all green onions.  However, in many areas, scallions have become known as green onions.


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## licia

I usually use a smaller amount of shallot than onion also, but don't ususally use it in the same type dish.  Also shallots are so much more expensive than most types of onion.  I use shallots more in sauces, dressings, etc. Onions, I use in everything else.


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## Constance

I don't buy shallots because they are so pricey, and I like onions just fine. Maybe one day I'll splurge and see what we think about them. After all, I do splurge and buy leeks. They're usually about $1 apiece.


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## middie

Here a scallion and a green onion are the same thing.
And we call them shall- ots


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## Poppinfresh

Constance said:
			
		

> I don't buy shallots because they are so pricey, and I like onions just fine. Maybe one day I'll splurge and see what we think about them. After all, I do splurge and buy leeks. They're usually about $1 apiece.


Ehhh, when you think about it, they aren't really that pricey.  I pay like 3.49 a pound for shallots, but the thing with them is that each shallot bulb usually has about 3 shallots in it.  And since a little goes a long way (the garlic flavor to it makes it a flavor that stands out, even if it is milder than an onion), they really only end up costing about 70 cents a dish whereas a yellow onion would be about 40.  30 cents ain't a big deal, IMO.


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## Aurora

Here is a good explanation:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/4/48/250px-Scallion.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.answers.com/topic/scallion-1&h=141&w=250&sz=26&tbnid=-8gmqOpreL1MtM:&tbnh=59&tbnw=106&hl=en&start=1&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dscallion%26svnum%3D100%26hl%3Den%26lr%3Dlang_en%26newwindow%3D1%26sa%3DN


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## Gretchen

You all make it not fun to be on a food site. Scallions and green onions are the same. Have nothing to do with shallots.


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## Michael in FtW

Gretchen said:
			
		

> You all make it not fun to be on a food site. Scallions and green onions are the same. Have nothing to do with shallots.


 
Actually - they are both/all allums (onions). While a true onion only has one bulb and a true shallot produces a cluster of sets (like a head of garlic) - where you live will determine what they are called.

green onion = scallion = bunching onion = shallot (in Australia) = spring onion (in Britain) = Chinese onion = stone leek = cibol (in Scotland)

But wait - it get's to be even more fun ....

Like Buckytom described - spring onion is also sometimes used to describe an immature onion with a small bulb about the size of a golf ball ...

Spring onion is also used in conjunction with sweet onion = fresh onion = summer onion - such as Vidalia, Walla Walla, Sweet Imperial, Texas Spring Sweet, Texas 1015, Carzalia Sweet, Oso Sweet, Arizona, Granex, and Maui.

It's just one of those things that makes trying to figure out a recipe so much fun! You have to know where it came from ... and what they call things.


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## lyndalou

How do you pronounce soduko, Buckytom?


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## buckytom

i prefer to say "suuji wa dokushin ni kagiru".

only kidding. i try to avoid them, they make my brain hurt. there's no shortcuts to soo-doh-koo.
i think if i was younger and had the time to waste, i would really get into it.


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## Dove

lindatooo said:
			
		

> lol Kimchee is an acquired taste!  My BIL used to call his daughter "Kimchee" when they lived in Korea - I was told the literal translation is "rotten cabbage"!


LOL...We lived in Korea for two years and I never acquired a taste for it...my house girl made it and we had to let it ferment for 30 days..rotten cabbage is right!!


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## cats

Green onions are nothing like shallots which have kind of a combination taste of a very mild onion and mild garlic. Shallots are more expensive than either green onions or garlic. We grow them both in our gardens and it saves quite a bit of money, especially with the shallots. Shallots are excellent to saute and add to green veggies, like broccoli or green beans, just a nice "hint" of flavor and not as strong as adding onion or garlic would be.


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## Cook-127

*Shallot Pronounciation*

It's phonetic.  Shall as in "shall".  Ot as in "ought".


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## Tom Jacobs

*Scallions vs Green Onions*

I have been cooking for sixty years and some of my dishes I use the entire onion, leaf and all and would call them scallions. If I was just going to use just the bulb in my recipe, I would call it a green onion. Because I generally use them in salads I have also called them salad onions enough times that my wife knows what I am referring to and what I am making. Spring onions I refer to as baby onions because of the size of the bulb but they are all the same, just left to grow a little longer. I usually use spring (baby) onions in vegetable soups because they hold their shape better and easily palatable for their size. I also use baby onions in salads where I intend to cut the bulb very then to spread the flavor throughout the salad. Though I don’t usually use the term, some people call them shallots. Scallions should be kept in the vegetable bin of the refrigerator and used within three or four days at the most. All other onions, White, Yellow, and Burgundy should be kept in a cool dark place preferably in a well ventilated container, never in the plastic shopping bag you bring them home in. Also, never store onions next to potatoes which should be stored in an open ventilated container also.</SPAN>


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## Addie

Welcome to DC.


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## Caslon

Addie said:


> Welcome to DC.



Well gee whizz. I learned something new today!


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## PrincessFiona60

Caslon said:


> Well gee whizz. I learned something new today!



Careful...it leads to a big head...


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## Steve Kroll

Green onion, scallion, and spring onion are all names for the same thing: an immature onion. If you were to let a green onion continue to grow, it would eventually look like a plain old big white onion.

These are green onions...







These are shallots (which is in the onion family but NOT an onion)...


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## GotGarlic

Welcome to DC 

When people use their own terms and definitions, it makes communication more difficult


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## Andy M.

Check this out.

Cook's Thesaurus: Green Onions & Leeks


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