{"id":2564,"date":"2025-01-17T20:33:21","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T11:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yasai-yakuzen.com\/?p=2564"},"modified":"2026-09-07T18:16:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T09:16:12","slug":"white-onion","status":"publish","type":"vegtable","link":"https:\/\/yasai-yakuzen.com\/en\/vegtable\/white-onion\/","title":{"rendered":"The benefits of leek"},"content":{"rendered":"

White spring onion is pungent and warm, a vegetable held to warm the body and ease the circulation of qi. Cooked, it turns meltingly sweet; raw, it gives you a fresh sharpness as a garnish. It suits daily care when you would rather not cool the body, or when you want a warm dish in the cold months. From hotpot and grilled onion to garnishes and stews, it goes everywhere: the vegetable the winter table cannot do without.<\/p>\n

\"Leek\"<\/figure>\n

When white spring onion is in season, its types, and how to choose it<\/h2>\n

If you want to enjoy what white spring onion does, it helps to know its season, its types and how to choose it. It is an amaryllis-family vegetable in season in winter, loved for the melting sweetness of the white part and its particular scent and sharpness.<\/p>\n

In season in winter, sweeter for the cold<\/h3>\n

White spring onion is the deep-rooted kind, banked up with soil so the white part grows long, and it belongs to the onion group of the amaryllis family. Its season is winter, around November to February, when the cold brings up the sweetness and softens it. The crop around the first frosts is said to carry the sweetness best. Saitama, Chiba and Ibaraki are among the main growing areas, and it is indispensable in sukiyaki and hotpot. The white part turns sweet and melting with cooking, while the green part is strongly scented and suits garnishes and flavouring. The two parts have different strengths, so using each for its own job lifts the dish.<\/p>\n

Deep-rooted, Shimonita and leaf onions<\/h3>\n

Onions of this kind can be chosen by how they are grown and by variety.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
kinds<\/th>\nWhat stands out<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Deep-rooted onion (white spring onion)<\/td>\nA long white part. Melting and sweet when cooked. For hotpot and grilling<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Shimonita onion<\/td>\nThick and short. Meltingly sweet with cooking, for stews and hotpot<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Leaf onion (green onion)<\/td>\nThe green leaves are what you eat. Fragrant, for garnishes and colour<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n

For hotpot, grilling and stews, the long-white deep-rooted onion and the thick, sweet Shimonita onion suit. For garnishes and colour, fragrant leaf onions are the easiest to use. In eastern Japan the white part of the deep-rooted onion has been preferred, in western Japan the green leaves of the leaf onion. Choose by the dish and to taste and it shows its best. Shimonita onion is strongly sharp raw, so cooking it to draw out the sweetness is the way to go.<\/p>\n

How to choose it and how to use each part<\/h3>\n

When picking out good white spring onion, these are the things to look for.<\/p>\n