Cultivation and varieties of shallots

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Shallots are a variety similar to onions, but forming many “babies” from the onions. In another way it is also called "kushchevka", "shrike", "family onion". The plant is perennial, but rather quickly loses its yield, therefore it is advised to replant it annually, and re-grow it from seeds every 3 years. Shallots have more useful properties than ordinary onions. It is widely used in cooking, especially in French cuisine.

Shallot

Description of the species

The first reliable description of a shallot species dates back to 1261. Supposedly, they began to grow it in the Middle East 5000 years ago. From there it spread to Egypt, Greece, India. In the Middle Ages, he came to Normandy, where he quickly gained popularity. Nowadays, almost no sauce in French cuisine is complete without the addition of shallots. It has been known for a long time in the Caucasus, the Far East, Ukraine and Moldova. A relatively new culture is for Siberia, the Russian Non-Black Earth Region.

Shallots in the photo and in reality are very similar to ordinary onions or leeks, although in fact they differ from them in many ways. The difference is that its turnip consists of several cloves, like onion or garlic. The mass of the bulbs is small, 15-30 g. When planting, it is not the bulbs themselves that increase, but their number. The total weight of "kids" can reach half a kilogram and more, in one hole there are from 4 to 40 pieces.

The feather of the shallot is juicy, fragrant, with a sweetish aftertaste and not as hot as that of onions. Greens are early ripening, almost never become tough. You can cut the feather completely several times during the season. Small bulbs grow new leaves quickly, especially when transplanted in summer. Northern onions are white with a pungent taste. Southern ones are red, semi-sharp or sweet.

The beneficial properties of shallots can hardly be overestimated. It contains much more vitamins than regular onions. Here are the approximate composition of shallots:

• vitamins B1, B2, PP, carotene;
• ascorbic acid - in leaves 54.9-70.8 mg, in bulbs 5.7-8.3 mg per 100 g;
• essential malas - in bulbs 28.0-34.0 per 100 g
• dry matter - in leaves 8.5-10.7%, in bulbs 14.2-22.0%
• sugar - in leaves 2.8-4.0%, in bulbs 8.1-13.6%
• proteins - in leaves 2.0-2.8%, in bulbs 2.9%

When fried in butter, shallots give a special aroma, for which they are appreciated by culinary experts. It is used to prepare dishes of both European and Asian cuisine. Under the influence of temperature, it caramelizes better than normal, since it contains more sugar. The most popular variety is the échalote grise with white oblong bulbs.

The virtues of onions

We have already described the composition of the shrike's bulbs and their greens. Now a few words about the virtues that distinguish culture:

• Growing and caring for onions is not difficult, it is an unpretentious culture.
• The yield is always high, because several dozen small turnips are formed in one nest.
• The plant is frost-resistant, withstands temperatures of 2-4 ° C, ripens perfectly at 18-20 ° C. Even if the roots freeze, this will not affect the harvest.
• The greens are soft, tender and juicy throughout the growing season until the very moment of harvesting from the field.
• The species has excellent keeping quality, the heads do not dry out or rot, therefore they can be stored almost until the next harvest.
• The species ripens very quickly, it can be removed from the field in the second half of July, and it gives a feather in April with early planting.
• It grows well even at home on the windowsill, all winter you can get healthy, fragrant and juicy greens for salad.
• When slicing, it does not sting the eyes and does not cause tears, unlike onions, which is why it is more convenient to cook.
• Industrial cultivation is very profitable, since the greens ripen early, the species has a high yield.

Shallots increase immunity and tone of the body, it is recommended in the treatment of vitamin deficiency. It also contains many minerals, it helps in the treatment of anemia, accelerates the healing of fractures, and prevents osteoporosis. Dishes with its addition have a special piquant taste and aroma. Shallot is contraindicated for ulcers and gastritis, kidney and liver diseases. The essential oils in onions can cause bronchospasm.

The choice of the garden

Shallots are an unpretentious culture, caring for them is no different. On the right soil, it gives the best yield. The soil should be slightly acidic or neutral. The plant does not like an excess of moisture, if the groundwater comes close, it is better to make additional drainage in the garden from coarse sand or small pebbles. The place should be well lit. It is best to plant the shrike on a hill. If this is not possible, the garden bed is made 15-20 cm high.

It is good to plant shallots after crops such as squash, pumpkin, cucumbers, potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage, legumes. You should not grow it in a garden where carrots, garlic, beets, sunflowers or corn were planted a year before. You can plant radishes, strawberries, carrots, lettuce, cucumbers, dill, calendula nearby. These plants help each other fight pests and diseases.

It is better to prepare a bed for shallots seedlings in the fall. The earth is well dug up and 4-6 kg of humus is introduced for each square meter. In the spring, the soil should be fertilized with a mineral dressing of the following composition:

• superphosphate - 25 g;
• saltpeter with ammonia - 15-20 g;
• potassium chloride - 15 g.

After fertilization, the soil is well dug up, weeds are removed and beds are formed.

Planting bulbs

To grow shallots on a green feather, you need to plant bulbs. They grow and develop well both in the garden and at home. The culture grows well in greenhouses and greenhouses. They select healthy heads weighing 7-9 g. Beforehand, they can be soaked for 30-40 minutes in potassium permanganate to destroy fungi and bacteria. For onion flies, shallots can be treated with a concentrated salt solution.

Shallots are planted in early spring. It can be placed under the film already at the beginning of March. Growing a house on a balcony or windowsill can be year-round. If you plant sevok in the garden in the spring, then in a month you can collect juicy greens.

The garden bed is prepared as described above. The distance between the rows for planting is about 20 cm. Between the two heads should be at least 7-8 cm. The heads are deepened into the ground by 5 cm. After cutting the greens, the bulbs can be dug out, divided and planted again in the ground. After a month, you can get new greens. If they are not dug up, the yield drops sharply.

Seed propagation

Shallot seed propagation is one of the most popular methods. Sow crops both in spring and autumn. The seeds survive the winter frosts very well. Growing from seeds allows you to get both juicy greens and numerous medium-sized turnips. The method is also good because the price of seeds is lower than that of heads. Next year you can easily get your own set.

Spring planting by seeds

How are shallots grown from seeds? There are no particular difficulties in this. The beds for planting shallot seeds are prepared in the fall. To do this, they are dug up and the following fertilizers are applied to the soil:

• humus - 6 kg / m²;
• superphosphate - 60 g / m²;
• wood ash - 1 cup / m²;
• saltpeter - 30 g / m² (applied in spring).

The seeds are washed before planting, placed on a wet cloth and covered with a film on top. You can lower the seed into a container with water and close it with a polyethylene lid with holes (for air intake). Keep for 2-3 days at a temperature of 21-24 ° C. Every 7 hours, the seeds must be washed again and the water changed.

Directly before planting the shallots, the seeds are dried. The distance between the grooves on the garden bed is 25 cm. Sowing the onion should not be too thick, as it will grow poorly. After the emergence of seedlings, the bed is thinned out so that between the two plants there is ultimately 6-7 cm. The seeds are deepened into the ground by 2-3 cm, sprinkled on top with earth, peat or humus. It is imperative to water the beds before or after sowing.

Autumn planting by seeds

Planting shallots for the winter has advantages and disadvantages. Already in early spring, you can get a green feather from it, but the yield in the middle lane after winter is quite low, in the region of 55-65%. Much more often, such a bow fires arrows - in 70-75% of cases (with a spring planting - 15-20%). It is good to sow onions for the winter if the goal is to get new seeds next year.

A few days before sowing, the garden bed is fertilized with compost or humus (5-6 kg / m²). The distance between the two rows should be 20-25 cm. Seeds do not require preliminary preparation before planting, they are simply sown to a depth of 3-4 cm. The crops are sprinkled with earth and peat, and the bed is covered with a film on top. When spring comes, the crops will begin to develop rapidly, and fresh greens can be harvested in April.

Onion care

How to grow shallots correctly? The shrike is an unpretentious plant, but good care allows you to increase yields. For onions, regular watering is important, at least 2-3 times a week, if the yard is dry. For 1 m of the garden, 15-20 liters of water are needed. Watering is stopped a month before harvesting.

3 or 4 times during the growing season, the soil should be loosened and weeds pulled out. They can completely drown out the crops of shallots, therefore regular weeding is vital for the plant. You need to feed the shallots twice a season. As the first fertilizer, mullein (bird droppings), diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10, or slurry in a dilution of 1: 5, is used. Fertilizer consumption - a bucket per meter of a bed.

Instead of mullein or manure, you can add mineral fertilizing of the following composition:

• ammonium nitrate - 10 g / m²;
• superphosphate - 10-15 g / m².

The first feeding is carried out 2 weeks after the green feather began to appear en masse. The second time fertilizers are applied 10-15 days after the first feeding, when the bulbs begin to form. Their composition may be as follows:

• potassium chloride - 10-15 g / m²;
• superphosphate - 15-20 g / m².

Kushchevka is quite resistant to various diseases and pests, therefore it is not difficult to grow it. If a problem has arisen, then it is not so difficult to deal with it. To kill onion flies and other pests, it is best to treat the plant with a concentrated solution of kitchen salt. Flies that are visible on the leaves can be removed mechanically. To get rid of fungi (powdery mildew, gray rot, etc.), shallots are treated with fungicides.

Harvesting and storing onions

As you can see, the agrotechnology of shallots is not difficult at all. Growing it is possible even for beginners. The shrike ripens faster than onions, therefore, its harvesting is carried out already in the second half of July or at the beginning of August. The yellow color of the feather serves as a signal that it is time to dig up the plant. It is advisable to harvest in dry weather to make the bulbs easier to dry.

Dig the heads as usual, try not to damage the roots and scales, then carefully separate the "kids" and put the onions to dry.You can do this right on the street, under the sun, by spreading the turnips on a litter. The second option is in the courtyard under a canopy or on the balcony. To dry faster, onions can be placed in an oven at a temperature of 40-50 ° C for 2-3 days.

When harvesting shallots, there are always very small heads in the batch. They hardly survive the winter, they can dry out completely. It is best to marinate such "kids" and then add them to salads, meat and vegetable dishes. The rest of the onions are stored in paper bags on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator or in a cool pantry.

Shallot varieties

As already mentioned, the shrew has been raised by humans for several millennia. In Europe, this species has been known for 800 years. During this time, many varieties were bred with different taste, color, shape, frost resistance. They are early-ripening, mid-ripening and late-ripening. Often summer residents conditionally divide varieties into ancient and shrubs. The old onion is large, its head color is yellow with red, the husk is brown. Bushes are early ripening, with yellowish small bulbs, give a lot of "babies" and are well stored.

Here are the main varieties of modern shallots, their descriptions and characteristics:

• Ayrat. Medium-sharp variety with bulbs weighing 15-20 g, in one nest there are 5-6 "babies".
• Kuban yellow. Quite a large variety, the mass of the heads is 25-30 g, in one turnip there are 4-5 of them. Stores well, drought tolerant.
• Banana. The sweetest of all varieties, the onion looks like a banana, hence the name.
• Sir-7. A high-yielding variety, the bulb weighs 30-40 g, in one nest there are up to 7 pieces of them. The taste is spicy, ripens early.
• Vonsky. Large variety with late ripening, increased resistance to various plant diseases and pests. The mass of the heads is 30-70 g, the number in the socket is 3-4 pieces.
• Star. Drought tolerant variety with medium fruits and early ripening.
• Kunak. A mid-season variety with a vegetation period of 90-100 days and a high yield. Onion scales are yellow with brown, from 1 m of the garden you can collect up to 3 kg of leaves and up to 2.5 kg of bulbs.
• Belozerets-94. An early variety that ripens in 85 days. Shallots are oval in shape, light lilac shade. The weight of one nest is 100-120 g, 2-2.5 kg of fruits are harvested from 1 m of the bed.
• Knyazhich. Quite a large variety with medium ripening times. The heads weigh up to 250 g and contain 7-8 turnips. The color of the bulbs is light purple, they are covered with yellow-brown scales. The pulp is delicate in taste, the onion can be stored for up to 10 months.
• Snowball and the White Queen. White shallots with a delicate juicy taste. The heads weigh 25-30 g, there are 7-8 of them in one socket.
• Primalis. The variety can grow in one place for 2-3 years, forms turnips weighing 10-40 g, they are covered with golden skin, the flesh is white with a slight purple tint. The variety produces abundant greenery.
• Delicacy. A common variety with oblong turnips, delicate and sweetish pulp of a purple hue, golden brown husk.
• Golden gourmet. A large variety, its main difference is its high yield. The head can grow up to 500 g, contains 30-40 bulbs of different sizes. The shape is oblong and rounded, the skin is golden, the greenery is abundant.
• Andreyka. Mid-season variety with pink pulp, oblong turnips, semi-sharp taste. Head weight - 25 g, yield - 1.8 kg from 1 m of the bed.
• Albic. The variety is of medium ripening, semi-sharp taste, the bulbs are covered with greenish scales. There are 7-8 pieces in the nest.
• Bonnil F1. Medium early variety with a mass of 35-40 g of bulbs. It is well stored, gives a juicy feather.
• Emerald. An early variety with small heads, up to 20 g, in the nest there are up to 4 pieces. It is best grown in a two-year culture.
• Cascade. An early variety with pink oval bulbs, weighing 30-35 g, there are 5-6 bulbs in the nest. Stores very well in winter.
• Family shallots. An early variety with 18-20 g bulbs, gives 3-4 bulbs in the nest. The scales are yellow-violet, the flesh is white. Stored up to 10 months, disease resistant.
• Red SunIt has a high yield, the heads weigh 30-40 g, the total weight under one bush is up to 0.5 kg. The shape is round, the color is red, the greens are juicy.
• Berezovsky aristocrat. Medium ripening high yielding variety. From 1 m of a bed, you can get up to 3-3.5 kg of bulbs.

As you can see, it is not difficult to pick up shallots for cultivation. Its varieties are so diverse that they can satisfy every taste. You can see each of them in more detail in the photo.

Caring for kushchevka is simple, and the yield is high. Its use in cooking gives a special exquisite taste and aroma to dishes, therefore many gardeners prefer to plant this particular variety instead of onions.