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The shallot (Allium cepa var. aggregatum, or the A. cepa Aggregatum Group) is a botanical variety of the species Allium cepa, to which the multiplier onion also belongs. The shallot was formerly classified as a separate species, A. ascalonicum, a name now considered a synonym of the currently accepted name. The genus Allium, which includes onions and garlic as well as shallots, is now classified in the plant family Amaryllidaceae, but was formerly considered to belong to the separate family Alliaceae.
Seedersandleechers (2,725 posts) Fri Sep 19, 2014, 01:06 PMWhy are shallots so expensive?$5.95# where I live in the midwest, and it's been expensive for a very long time. I came upon this reply to the question above from yahoo answer and couldn't find any data to back up the notion that growing shallots commercially in the US is illegal. HALFWAY-to-ITALIA answered 5 years ago Shallots are more expensive than the regular yellow onion because, truthfully, of politics. As you probably know shallots are not grown in the US for a variety of reasons. The first being they simply do not grow too well here. Second, the commercial growing of shallots is prohibited in the US (I will get to this in a minute) And finally, it is much cheaper to import them from other countries. As stated, the commercial growing of shallots is prohibited in the US. This is mostly because of the harmful growing conditions of shallots. When sunlight interacts with the roots of the shallot plant, nitrogen dioxide is released into the air (a very small amount) However, when nitrogen dioxide comes into contact with water, hydrochloric acid is formed, which is very dangerous. Now this does not affect the shallot, but the farmers. The danger that is present in the growing of shallots is enough reason for the US to prohibit commercial growing of shallots and for them to be very expensive. I hope I answered your question!And by the way you can substitute regular yellow onions with shallots, its completely fine. Have a great day! Source: 20+ years in the farming industry https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090930151637AA1uaLy
LiberalAndProud (11,107 posts) Fri Sep 19, 2014, 03:45 PM1. Weird.Dutch Valley Growers sells shallot bulbs in bulk. They must be growing them? I did find this interesting tidbit though. http://www.gracelinks.org/blog/3445/real-food-right-now-and-how-to-cook-it-shallots But shallot cultivation is not without controversy. I said that shallots are “frequently†cultivated by planting bulbs from the previous season’s harvest. There are some varieties of shallot, ironically developed by those bulb-growing savants the Dutch, which can be planted by seed (a much cheaper way to grow shallots, because the planting can be fully mechanized). The controversy here is this: shallot aficionados, led by the French, believe that “true†shallots are those varieties that are only propagated by planting bulbs from the previous season. So-called “false†shallots are those Dutch types that are grown from seed. How do you know if you’re getting a “true†or “false†shallot? As this article explains, “true†(bulb-planted) shallots can be differentiated from “false†(seed-planted) shallots thusly: “Firstly, a bulb-planted shallot will always have a faint circular scar at the root end where it was separated from the parent cluster. Also, when cut in half, a true shallot will always have two cloves or sets of concentric layered scales; a seed-grown shallot has a singular bulb, no secondary clove, and looks very much like a tiny onion globe.†The reality is that most people can’t really differentiate between “true†and “false†shallots, taste wise (although I’m sure that there are many French folks who would disagree). I also saw that most shallots are imported from France. Who knew?
So ... DU folk want a semi-luxury product whose production harms the environment? And they want it to be plenteous and inexpensive? The way to a Progressive's hypocrisy is through their palate?
