Parts Most Frequently Used: Bulb, Leaf

Flavors/Temps: Acrid, Warm

Caution: Considered safe.

History/Folklore: In China the white bulb is used medicinally. The scallion bulbs are added at the end stages of making decoctions. Chinese scallions are flat and very fragrant.

Worldwide scallions have many local names, besides those mentioned above, some other names include: table onion, onion stick, precious onion, baby onion, long onion, scaly onion, and yard onion.

Scallions are extremely low in calories while containing antioxidants, fiber, minerals, vitamins, and flavonoids. They contain more dietary fiber than onions or shallots.

The allicin in scallions not only helps reduce cholesterol, but it also helps decrease blood vessel stiffness, lowering overall blood pressure. It also helps inhibit clot formation lowering the chances of coronary artery disease and strokes.

Scallions are one of the richest sources of Vitamin K, which plays an important role in bone health, limiting neuronal brain damage and aiding the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. One cup of scallions contains 259 percent of the recommended daily intake of Vitamin K.

Recent studies are finding that the intake of alium vegetables, such as scallions, may help reduce the risk of cancer.

Old world remedies for measles included drinking scallion tea and applying raw mashed scallions to the naval to draw out the measles. For abscesses you could mix crushed raw scallions with egg white and apply externally changing the poultice every four hours.

In Mexico and the Southwest U.S., cebollitas are scallions that are sprinkled with salt and grilled whole and used with cheese and rice. Topped with some lime juice they are delicious!

In India, scallions are often eaten raw as an appetizer and in the Philippines they are ground in a mortar with ginger and chili peppers to make a condiment called wet “palapa.” Dry “palapa” is wet palapa with stir fried fresh coconut shavings added.

During Passover meal, Persian Jews have fun lightly striking family members with scallions, as the Hebrew word “dayenu,” which means scallion, can also be read as a symbol of the whips endured by the Israelites under ancient Egyptian rule.