If you think the taste of the other onions would overpower your meal, try spring onions. Their fresh, subtle flavour is great in soups, salads, noodle and seafood dishes.
How do we make sure we provide top quality spring onions?
Simple – we grow them ourselves! Sam draws on 3 generations of horticultural experience to grow fresh, sweet and full-flavoured spring onions. We only harvest spring onions when their stalk diameter is between 0.6cm and 1.3cm – smaller spring onions have a bland taste, and larger spring onions have an overpowering taste. We also make sure the stalks have a thin, white neck (this is a good indicator of the spring onion’s development), the top of the stalks are a dark green in colour (the darker the colour, the higher the nutrient density), and there are no signs of decay or insect injury. The stalks must also be fresh, crisp and turgid – we try to make sure of this by harvesting early in the day, when the morning dew has the spring onions looking at their finest.
Where do we source our spring onions from?
Our spring onions usually come direct from our farm – planted, cultivated and hand-picked by Sam and the team. They grow well in our quick-draining and nutrient rich soils. When conditions aren’t favourable to growing them on our farm (due to seasonality, crop rotation etc) we source spring onions from other farmers in areas with similar geographical and climatic conditions (such as from other farms around Bacchus Marsh, or farms around Werribee).
What is the best way to keep spring onions?
Store spring onions in the fridge in a slightly open plastic bag (optimal storage conditions are at 0°C and 98%-100% relative humidity). Higher temperatures greatly accelerate the yellowing and decay of the leaves – so keep them cool! Don’t store below -1°C though, as spring onions are prone to freezing injury (making them look wilted and gelatinous). Keep them away from apples, grapes and mushrooms – spring onions produce a slight odour over time, which may be absorbed.
Spring onion nutritional information
The Ancient Egyptians believed that the onion symbolised eternity; Ancient Greek athletes ate onions to lighten their blood; and Roman Gladiators rubbed their skin with onions to firm up their muscles! Although we can’t guarantee that our spring onions will make you live forever, run faster or turn you into a warrior, we do know that spring onions are an excellent source of vitamin C, a good source of dietary fibre, vitamin B6, folate, potassium and manganese. Spring onions are also low in saturated fat and cholesterol.
Spring onion serving tips and suggestions
Prepare your spring onions by trimming off the tops about a centimetre below where the green begins. If they make you cry, would you like to know why? The real reason onions make you cry is because cutting an onion releases volatile sulphur compounds, which form a mild sulphuric acid when they make contact with the moisture of your eye. The body produces tears to dilute the irritant and wash it out. The best way to prevent your eyes from watering is to cut the onion under running water, or submerged in a basin of water (these both reduce the volatility of the enzymes, and also reduce its concentration). If that’s not convenient, try putting the onion in the fridge until its cold, which appears to have a sedating effect on the volatile sulphuric compounds. You can also try using your sharpest knife – this will reduce cell damage and therefore the amount of volatile sulphuric acid produced. Another tip is to cut the root of the onion last, because this area has the highest concentration of volatile enzymes. Oh and one final tip, for those missing out on some after-dinner cuddles because of that unfortunate onion breath, the secret is to eat parsley after your meal, unique compounds in parsley neutralise the onion aftertaste!
