Onions, cultivated and wild

Chive
Wild Leek
Wild onion
Ramson
Shallot
Green onions
Garlic

The onion shape is one of the most perfect things in nature and among those created by man. There is really only one other shape that can compete with the onion and that is the egg. Both the onion shape and the egg shape are so extraordinarily beautiful that you can enjoy them endlessly, all day long, without getting tired. No matter how many onions you look at or handle, the shape never feels exhausted and banal. It is actually a fantastic privilege to be able to handle such beautiful things, mini-sculptures, in your daily life. Take the opportunity to enjoy them. Don't hide either onions or eggs in the refrigerator or pantry. Always have a few beautiful, silky onions lying around in a basket or hanging in a braid in the kitchen and have a few eggs, brown or white, it doesn't matter, lying around in a bowl on the kitchen counter. Neither onions nor eggs will go bad from being left at room temperature for a few days. (Larger quantities must of course be stored properly.)
The onion garden is the oldest form of cultivated garden here in Sweden. Onions have been both food, medicine and spice and today we would have a very hard time getting by without onions. There are few dishes in which onions are not included in one form or another, or in which onions could not be included. We use onions as a seasoning in food of both meat, fish, vegetables and mushrooms.
Onions of all kinds belong to the lily family and the onion, Allium cepa, which includes both yellow onions and red onions, probably once grew wild in the western parts of Asia, but today it is not known to grow wild anywhere on the globe. However, it has “always” been cultivated in both China and India. Onions were popular in Egypt, the Greeks and Romans loved them and it came to us in northern Europe during the Middle Ages. But even before the yellow or red onion found its way to us, people up here were cultivating garlic. The Vikings loved garlic and took it with them on their voyages far out to sea. Garlic, which is rich in vitamin C, effectively prevented the onset of scurvy and among the crew on board Viking ships, garlic was included as part of their salary.
All onions contain sulfur oil. It is what makes our eyes water. Even though onions belong to the lily family, you should be very careful about trying to eat bulbs with beautiful flowers, they are all too often poisonous. This is the case with, for example, amaryllis, tulip, narcissus, snowdrop and perennials. Since onions have been in our possession for such an incredible long time, we also know quite well what is edible and what is not. We grew onions up here long before we started growing herbs or other vegetables.
The onion, the edible onion in its various forms, is thus an old cultivated plant, but that does not prevent the fact that there are still bulbous plants that grow wild in our own nature, plants that we very rarely care to take care of even though they are both edible and tasty. The wild onions are found mainly in the southern parts of the country.


Chive
Allium schoenoprasum, is found along the east coast and on Öland and Gotland. In the wild, it does not grow in the typical dense clumps of the garden but rather scattered, a blade here and a blade there. But it is often found in abundance. When it blooms around midsummer with its beautiful, purple-colored flowers, it shines as if from a light, purple-colored mist, which hovers a little above the ground. You can pick the flowers and tie a wreath, a lilac-scented wreath to decorate your curls with for the midsummer dance, or a w