ODE TO AN ONION

By Mckenna Graham

Long before the farmers markets swell with the flesh of ripe tomatoes, long before kitchen tables are transformed by the cornucopia of summer’s vegetable bounty, you may, if you’re like me, find your mind turning to the garden. If you are an avid gardener, you may be wringing your hands each day as you fret and toil, tending to trays of newly germinated seedlings tucked safely away under grow lights inside. It will be many weeks before these summer-loving vegetables find a welcome home in the outdoors and so as gardeners, we must practice patience. Best to heed the advice of Wendell Berry in such matters, as he says in A Timbered Choir, “The seed is in the ground. Now may we rest in hope while darkness does its work.” 

But alas- how to wait? It is such a joy to wander into one’s own backyard for a little something homegrown and bursting with a kaleidoscope of flavors unknown to grocery store produce. At the end of the long slog of winter, the palette yearns for the green flavors of a new season. Yet, in these capricious spring days when the weather is as likely to be seventy degrees one day as it is to be seven the next, it’s challenging to find anything worth eating emerging from the still frozen earth. This moment calls for the dependable and humble allium vineale, commonly known as onion grass, cow garlic, or field garlic. 

Growing wild in nearly every backyard, pasture, parking lot, and easement, onion grass is a testament to vigor and reliability. This member of the allium family is technically an invasive European weed, but every part of the plant is edible- and delicious! It can be easily identified by its pungent onion aroma, long hollow green stalks aboveground, and firm white bulb below ground. It is important to always reference a reliable foraging resource to ensure you are not harvesting look-alikes. Once you know what you are looking for you will notice it everywhere. You can find its green shoots emerging from the melting snow, undeterred by winter’s fury. It announces the beginning of spring, hell or high water, ice be damned, and it does not get the adoration it deserves. In need of scallions or chives? Use onion grass. Check your backyard and I bet you will find some there, plentiful and ready to use. Chop them up and throw some in scrambled eggs or top a baked potato with their green stalks. But for a true delight, pickle them and use both the bulb and brine to make an exquisite spring Gibson cocktail. 

My grandfather, Kenneth, was a great lover of the Gibson so I dedicate this recipe to him and hope you too will enjoy all the delights that spring, and its wild onion, has to offer. 

KEN’S GIBSON 

• 2 oz Fords London Dry Gin 

• 1/3 oz dry vermouth 

• 2 pickled onion grass bulbs 

• Dash of onion brine to make it dirty (optional) 

• Fill shaker with ice. 

• Add gin and vermouth. Optional addition of brine to taste. 

• Stir 15 rotations with bar spoon, or until shaker is frosted and liquid is well chilled. 

• Strain mixture into a chilled martini glass. 

• Spear spring onion bulbs carefully onto a cocktail pick. Smaller bulbs might need a delicate touch to prevent them from falling apart. 

• Garnish drink with cocktail onions and imbibe while dreaming of warm days in the garden.