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Post by robertb on Sept 3, 2014 17:30:42 GMT -5
What's the difference? The more I read on the subject, the more confused I get. I've just acquired some red potato onions off eBay, so no doubt I'll find out next year!
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Post by raymondo on Sept 3, 2014 18:01:07 GMT -5
The distinction isn't clear to me either. I've read that potato onions keep longer than shallots so perhaps the distinction between the two is more related to use than to growing habit. I've given up trying to figure out what's what.
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Post by steev on Sept 3, 2014 19:03:19 GMT -5
Could even be largely a matter of language/custom; I always put pants on my right leg and trousers on my left.
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Post by oxbowfarm on Sept 3, 2014 19:04:23 GMT -5
One has "French Cuisine" cachet, the other doesn't. Botanically there is no difference that I can tell. Except for Griselle shallots which are actually Allium oschaninii.
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Post by philagardener on Sept 3, 2014 20:44:30 GMT -5
I grew them side-by-side this year and felt they were indistinguishable. They even flowered at the same time. So I encouraged a bit of pollen flow. We'll see what happens :>)
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Post by meganp on Sept 3, 2014 20:49:47 GMT -5
the potato onions that I've grown are always individual bulbs in a cluster and are more uniform in size whereas the shallots can be two or three bulbs within one wrapper and the size is variable within a cluster. The flavour of the potato onions are much stronger and they keep well vs the shallots which tend to be milder. I've also found much more variation in the shape, colour and size of shallots.
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Post by paquebot on Sept 4, 2014 21:09:11 GMT -5
One can say that all potato onions are shallots but not all shallots are potato onions. Common shallots, multipliers, and potato onions are all the same allium group. Any differences between any of them is variety rather than species.
martin
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Post by kyredneck on Sept 12, 2014 7:05:27 GMT -5
the potato onions that I've grown are always individual bulbs in a cluster and are more uniform in size whereas the shallots can be two or three bulbs within one wrapper and the size is variable within a cluster. The flavour of the potato onions are much stronger and they keep well vs the shallots which tend to be milder. I've also found much more variation in the shape, colour and size of shallots. I agree with this.
An old saying here goes, "Don't let a July rain hit your onions". I used to have a good thing going for several years with red potato onions from a start from WV, and then I got consumed with career duties and screwed up, left them in the ground too long and summer rains hit them and they rotted instead of curing when I finally did get around to digging them.
The green onions were mainly what we were after, oh those wonderful early green onions. Planted Thanksgiving, I've pulled green onions in mild March snow showers. These are potato onions in the bed on the right and shallots in the bed on the left; there IS a difference.
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Post by kyredneck on Sept 13, 2014 10:55:24 GMT -5
Well, I decided I want to get back into 'multipier onions', so I ordered a start from Territorial Seed: www.territorialseed.com/product/Yellow_Multiplier_Onion/all-garlic-shallot-bulbs; I'm not convinced this is exactly the same onion I grew 20 years ago though. The description says these are mild and sweet, the potato onions I grew were strong in the raw, unless as a green onion, then they were delicious. |
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Post by kyredneck on Nov 30, 2014 16:52:20 GMT -5
Well, I decided I want to get back into 'multipier onions', so I ordered a start from Territorial Seed: www.territorialseed.com/product/Yellow_Multiplier_Onion/all-garlic-shallot-bulbs; I'm not convinced this is exactly the same onion I grew 20 years ago though. The description says these are mild and sweet, the potato onions I grew were strong in the raw, unless as a green onion, then they were delicious. 
Got them in the ground today!
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Post by philagardener on Nov 30, 2014 20:51:40 GMT -5
Those look like pretty good sized bulbs! It will be interesting to hear how they do for you.
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Post by DiggingDogFarm on Dec 1, 2014 2:24:11 GMT -5
That's interesting.
A friend ordered 5 pounds of yellow multiplier onion starts from Territorial this year and none of them were even close to being that large.
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Post by kyredneck on Dec 1, 2014 4:25:48 GMT -5
Yes, I was impressed with the size and quality of the bulbs, but, I did order early, before they had even begun shipping them.
There were 53 bulbs total in a 5 lb order, the last 60 small ones at the far 1/3 end of the bed were given to me and are what I believe to be shallots.
[add]
"The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can shoot and trap out of it!!!"
Lol, that leaves something for the imagination. The two outside shepherds get the meat from ours.
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Post by kyredneck on Dec 1, 2014 6:44:48 GMT -5
Someone correct me if I'm wrong:
A shallot is to a potato onion as broccoli is to cauliflower (or cabbage, kale, collards, kohlrabi, brussels sprouts....).
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Post by philagardener on Dec 1, 2014 7:08:08 GMT -5
A pretty good analogy, but I believe that technically potato onions are considered a subset of shallots (while clearly not all shallots are potato onions).
Like broccoli/cauliflower/etc., potato onions and regular shallots are supposed to be are cross-fertile, so when my Green/White Mountain potato onions bloomed this past summer at the same time as an adjacent row of shallots, I encouraged mixed-pollination of the potato onions to boost diversity in that gene pool. If you would like to try some of that seed, drop me a PM with your address.
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