Green onion, also sold as spring onion or scallion, is mild and grassy in the green tops and sharper in the white base. It flavours Cantonese steamed ribs and silky scrambled beef, tops congee, and goes into chicken meatball miso soup. Cook the whites early and scatter the greens raw at the end for freshness.
Not a common allergen. It is not on the UK list of 14 foods that must be declared on labels.
How to serve Green Onion to babies
No published guidance covers preparing Green onion by age yet. See the NHS weaning guide for textures in general.
Per 100 g from CoFID (13-352). Not medical advice.
TCM benefits of Green Onion
蔥白 · cōng bái
How green onion is seen in traditional Chinese food therapy. Traditional context, not medical advice.
The Bencao Gangmu entry for spring onion handles the parts separately: the white stem is pungent and neutral, the green leaf warm.
Its old cold-weather recipes pair the whole white stem with fresh ginger, or steep it with fermented soybeans, and the water is drunk warm.
Shredded spring onion piled over a steamed whole fish and finished with sizzling oil is the classic Cantonese use, with white and green parts often cut separately.
Spring onions have two parts that behave differently, a mild white base and a grassy green top, and they belong in the pan at different times.
1Choose: Pick bunches with bright, firm greens and clean, unslimy whites.
2Store: Wrap them in a damp paper towel and keep them in the fridge drawer. Peel away any dried-out outer layer and trim limp greens before using.
3Prep: Slice with a back-and-forth pull of the knife, tip on the board, rather than chopping straight down, which crushes the rings and makes them more pungent. Use the whites right down to the root.
4Cook: Fry the whites early with ginger or garlic, where they turn sweet. Add the greens in the last 30 seconds or scatter them raw over the finished dish.
Video: “Knife Skills: How to Slice Scallions” by J. Kenji López-Alt on YouTube.
