Calçots

 Calçots being cleaned for market

Calçots (pronounced Kal-sot) are onions. Specifically, they are the stalks and leaves grown from mature onion bulbs that have been planted for seed production.

December planted onions for calçot production. These are regular yellow storage onions that were planted in a low tunnel. The growing bulbs are on the left, cardoon and artichoke plants are in the nursery pots on the right.

Ordinarily, the bulbs would be planted in the spring to produce seed. But when growing for calçot production they can be planted any time from fall to spring when the soil can be worked. If you plant them in an area that is susceptible to freezing, it's a good idea to plant them under cover of a low tunnel.

You can grow calçots from any mature onion bulb, but I usually grow them from plain old yellow storage onions. I buy the onions by the 50 lb. bag (I eat a lot of onions during the winter). Sometimes I buy onions specifically for planting, other times I'll plant any bulbs that have sprouted in storage.

Sprouted onion bulbs in the house for winter çalcots.

If you find that you have an onion bulb that's sprouted, just fill a small container of water and place the bulb, roots down, and set in a window. They'll grow a little spindly, but they'll still be good. You could also plant them in potting soil. If you do that, use a 6" pot. The stalks will use the onion bulb as their nutrition as well as anything they pick with from the roots that will sprout out the bottom of the bulb. You can also force the bulb to sprout by placing it, root down, in a small container of water and setting it in a cool place, just as you'd germinate an avocado seed.

Whether you force or grow already sprouted bulbs in the house, or you plant bulbs in the garden, once the stalks and leaves have gotten 12"-18" tall, it'll be time to harvest. You want to be sure to harvest your calçots before the plant sends up the flower stalk. If you planted the bulbs in the garden, just use a potato fork or spade to dig the bulb, which will be partially decomposed and slimy (but not to worry, this is normal). To clean the calçots, simply remove the remnants of the bulb from the stalks, discard, cut the roots off even with the base of each stalk, and wash the calçots. You will get 3-5 çalcots from each bulb.

Calçots that were grown in the tunnel pictured earlier in this article.

Detail of an onion bulb growing çalcots. I've cut open one of the sprouted bulbs pictured earlier in the article. You can see how the stalks were growing in the bulb. This is the bulb that was in the tall glass of water after it had been growing for a month or so. The total length of the çalcots was 17"-19", about 6" of which was from the root base to where the leaves split.

The cleaned calçots. Part of my dinner tonight.

So, now that you've grown your calçots, what can you do with them?

Well, you can use them as you would scallions (green onions), or, you could do as they do in Catalan, Spain, and grill them over a fire until the outside is blackened, but they aren't cooked all the way through. Remove them from the fire and wrap in foil and allow to finish cooking in their own steam. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce. In Spain, at the Calçot Festival, they are served with Romesco Sauce made with tomatoes, peppers, nuts, and olive oil.

More about Romesco Sauce with links to the Calçodata (çalcot festival in Catalonia, Spain), and other interesting info.

All content in this article including pictures, unless noted, © Joanne Rigutto