LEAVES AND STEMS WE EAT 151 



sweetness. California grows both kinds in the 

 Imperial Valley. 



The "potato onion" is a form that substitutes 

 for the single bulb a number of irregular and 

 smaller bulbs. ' No flowers, seeds nor "sets" are 

 formed. The compound bulb is separated into 

 its divisions, each of which, if planted, produces 

 a cluster. These onions are fine in flavor, but 

 not so convenient to prepare as the single, large 

 ones. 



Shallots are onions of the compound bulb 

 group, a different species, however, from the com- 

 mon onion, which we know in so many varieties. 

 From early times this vegetable has been used for 

 seasoning, its flavor being more delicate than any 

 old-fashioned varieties of onions. The bulbs 

 keep the year round. 



Garlic is another many-bulbed onion, native 

 to southern Europe, and much esteemed there as a 

 flavor, copiously added to stews and other dishes. 

 When grown in northern gardens it is stronger 

 and more burning than in Italy. So a rub of the 

 salad bowl with the fresh-cut surface of a single 

 "clove" (little bulb) of garlic is usually quite 

 enough of this pungent flavor to suit our taste. 



When fully grown, the garlic is pulled, and 

 the dried stalks braided together, this long rope 



