page_title: Shallot
section_title: Description and cultivation
hierarchical_section_title: Shallot / Description and cultivation
caption_attribution_description: English: Shallot plant (Allium cepa var. aggregatum) Castelltallat, Catalonia Català: Escalunya (Allium cepa var. aggregatum) Castelltallat, Bages
context_page_description: The shallot is a type of onion, specifically a botanical variety of the species Allium cepa.
  The shallot was formerly classified as a separate species, A. ascalonicum, a name now considered a synonym of the currently accepted name.
  Its close relatives include the garlic, leek, chive, and Chinese onion.
context_section_description: Like garlic, shallots are formed in clusters of offsets with a head composed of multiple cloves. The skin colour of shallots can vary from golden brown to gray to rose red, and their off-white flesh is usually tinged with green or magenta.
  Shallots are extensively cultivated for culinary uses, propagated by offsets. In some regions ("long-season areas"), the offsets are usually planted in autumn (September or October in the Northern Hemisphere). In some other regions, the suggested planting time for the principal crop is early spring (typically in February or the beginning of March in the Northern Hemisphere).
  In planting, the tops of the bulbs should be kept a little above ground, and the soil surrounding the bulbs is often drawn away when the roots have taken hold. They come to maturity in summer, although fresh shallots can now be found year-round in supermarkets. Shallots should not be planted on ground recently manured. Shallots suffer damage from leek moth larvae, which mine into the leaves or bulbs of the plant.
caption: Shallot plant (A. cepa var. aggregatum) growing in Castelltallat, Spain
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