Green Onion

Green onion isn't one fixed thing with one story. Sometimes it's a young onion pulled before it bothers to make a bulb, sometimes it's a kind that never makes a bulb at all — it just keeps growing tall and slim. Either way, know it by its look: bright green tops, a white, firm base, and a taste that's fresh, grassy, with only a gentle tingle where a full onion would make you cry.

Choose it by the stalk, not by habit. It must stand straight, bright green at the top, white and firm at the base. If it bends in your hand like a wet noodle, leave it — it's already lost its life. Smell it: fresh green onion smells clean and grassy, almost sweet. If it smells sour or of nothing at all, walk away.

Some people say green onion is just a garnish, something to scatter on top at the end for color. No! The white part has real bite and body — it can be sautéed, it can build a base for a sauce, same as a regular onion, only gentler. Treat it only as decoration, and you throw away the tastiest part, leaving the dish thinner than it should be. A hundred grams gives you 27 kcal — hardly a reason to waste any of it.