Onion Plants from Cooking Scraps: Update #2

Before I started writing recipes for my blog, I hardly paid a thought to the onion. An onion was either red or white and take it or leave it. Then I began to notice how the modest onion is an ingredient in nearly every dinner recipe I cook. There are many varieties, each with a distinct flavor. Perhaps the best part of getting to know the quiet onions in my cupboard better was learning that they are nutritious vegetables! The more I paid attention I became amazed by the onion. These days, I can't cook dinner without a lovely onion, leek, or shallot.

Elegant packages of flavor that can be prepared in countless ways; the onion can be served raw or cooked and are simply a must ingredient. Food would be dull without the onion. I even began experimenting with growing onions and recently threw a little Italian Cafe-themed party and used braided onions and garlic for decorations!

I have an entirely different perspective of the onion family now. This new-found respect really began when I was inspired by a facebook post by the amazing Chef Pink (check out Bacon & Brine, the new restaurant she and her wife opened) about growing food from cooking scraps and planted the ends of several onions to see what would happen (in February). Amazingly, they all sprouted! A couple didn't make it, maybe due to their location in my garden. Several more were victims of my toddlers' curiosity and were unmercifully uprooted. Two of the eight original onions however, grew fantastically well.

In May, I dug around the base of my two remaining plants and one appeared to be forming a bulb. In reality, my hopes had colored my perception. It was just a thickening stalk and up came flowers from both plants. I was happy that my plants produced something so I thought I'd let the flowers bloom and enjoy nature's beauty.

My youngest toddler loved the flowers too and promptly ripped one of the flower heads right off one plant, yikes! Down to one viable onion plant, I had nearly given up on my kitchen scrap plants to grow onions when the last plant sprouted once again! (I'll explain this in a future post.)  I dug around the base of the plant and found white bulging from the base. I won't claim success just yet as I think the potential onion bulb needs more time to grow.

But I will say, this whole process has been great fun and fascinating! I now admire onions, they are amazing plants that make life more interesting, nutritious, and flavorful. I'll post another update in the next month or so. In the meantime, I do appreciate you, the magnificent Onion.