permaculture

[Keith Johnson <keithdj@mindspring.com>]

Robert,
After growing and giving them away for 28 years in Mich, New England, 
Ca, and now NC, I've found that the bulb in the ground can get fairly 
large, as much as 2 inches across and the bulbils on top as large as 1 
inch in diameter. Good organic fertilizer, plenty of minerals and water 
can make them quite fat and yummy. I like to call them as infinity 
onions. They're fun and easy to grow and once you have some going, you 
will never run out. Sometimes the onions make as many as 4 levels of 
bulbils on one stalk.

Even the small bulbils can be used for eating. If you first give them a 
quick parboil, their skins slip right off and then you can use them as 
pearl onions.
Keith

Robert Waldrop wrote:

> Others may already know about this, but it's new to me. regarding
> walking onions, a/k/a Egyptian onions, generally you grow and eat them
> as green onions.  but about 6 weeks ago i thinned my bunches by simply
> pulling up some of the stalks, including the small bulb in the
> ground..  i have let them cure since then, and tonight i chopped a
> couple up to make a sauce.  they were very tasty, and seem to be
> keeping just fine.  one of them was a bit of a pain to peel, i don't
> know if i would want to use them for a dinner for 100, but for our
> household two were fine for the sauce.  kind of shallot-like in the
> size of the onion bulb.
>
> The stalk itself dried into a fairly firm tube. would probably be good
> for autumn decorations.
>
> Now that i know this works, i will probably thin much more extensively
> next summer.
>
> Robert Waldrop, okc
>
>