Bunching Onions (also known as green onions or Welsh onions) are cool-season perennials in the Amaryllidaceae (amaryllis Family) that are also grown as annuals in temperate climates. Subdivided into many varieties, commercial seed catalogs will generally refer to them as Japanese bunching onions. They are also known as scallion, spring onion, escallion, and salad onion, but these names are confusing because that might also indicate any young green onion stalk, that also can be grown from Welsh onions, common or bulb onions. [While the majority of bunching onions belong to Allium fistulosum, some varieties of bunching onions are actually from the Allium cepa species, and are immature bulbing onions harvested for their tops.]
Generally, bunching onions are non-bulbing, bunch forming onions that are harvested as needed, using both the white bottoms and the slender hollow green leaf tops. Bunching onions have a milder taste than the common onion and can be cooked or used raw. They are closely related to garlic, leeks, chives, and shallots, all members of the Allium genus, which also includes hundreds of species and varieties grown as ornamentals.
[It is believed that members of the Allium family were cultivated as long ago as 2,800-3,200BC. Many Egyptologists believe that onions were vividly depicted in the murals, pyramid decorations, and writings of ancient Egypt.] Cultivated for more than 2,000 years, Allium fistulosum is unknown in the wild and believed to have originated in northern Mongolia and Siberia and/or central western China. It was introduced to England as poultry feed in the 1500s. The Welsh onion, despite its name, is not native to Wales. In 1562, the seed was sent to England by a Swiss botanist, who referred to it as ‘welsch,’ meaning foreign in Old German.
[Today, bunching onions are grown around the world, with California being the largest producer of bunching onions in the United States, growing bunching onions practically all year round. Commercial bunching onion production is labor intensive and expensive; as a result many bunching onions for the United States are now being produced in Mexico. Bunching onions are used in many types of cuisines, both fresh and cooked, and provide a vitamin-packed flavor boost to any dish.]