A Beginner’s Guide to Spring Alliums, the Best Early Taste of Spring

The many members of the onion family share similar basic flavors, but they’re all so pretty and rewarding on their own that it’s hard not to pick up every single one (at least if you’re me). Spring alliums have brighter bouquets and more interesting flavors than the storage onions we use year-round.

To make the most of them, here’s a guide to the ones you may see at your local marketplace. Garlic Chives Garlic chives These flat green spears, in addition known as Chinese chives, have nothing in common with the European kind; they’re an entirely different species, and are often cooked as a vegetable (like string beans) rather than used as an herb. Remove the rubber band that holds the bunch together, wrap a dry paper towel around them, and keep them sealed in a plastic bag.

If they’re kept cold and dry, garlic chives should last for up to a week. The entire plant—from the stalk to the baby bulb—is edible, and it’s brighter and milder than mature garlic.

Texture-wise, it’s succulent and crisp, but if the stalks are tough, keep them for making stock. Green garlic is best enjoyed within a week of harvest (which is probably the day or day before you got it from your producer).

How to Cook With Green Garlic » Caitlin Santomauro Leeks Leeks Leeks are kind of always around, but in the springtime, they’re cute and small and more delicate. Spring leeks tend to be on the smaller, paler side, which means they’re more tender. If they’re completely hard, they’ve got woody cores and won’t soften no matter how long you cook them (though they’re fine for making stock).

Stuffed Leeks with Blue Cheese, Raisins, and Almonds Spring Onions & Scallions Spring onions Spring onions are just like green garlic: onions harvested before they’re fully mature. Their green tops and white and purple bulbs are completely edible, they’re tender, and they’re less likely to make you cry than their fully-grown relatives.

If your spring onions have little bulbs forming at the bottom, they’re young allium cepa (common onions), if they’re stick-straight, they’re young allium fistulosum (Japanese scallions, which never form bulbs). Even if scallions are available in supermarkets most of the year, really cute ones have been popping up at my favorite estate stands, and I keep bringing them home with me. They’re basically the same thing—they can come from either the common or Japanese varietal—they’re just picked at an even earlier stage.

Keep them stored in the coldest part of the fridge, and try to use them up before you notice any signs of sadness in the greens. They’re here, they’re photogenic, they’re the funkiest member of the allium family, and they tend to cause a little springtime frenzy.

Store them in the fridge with a damp paper towel wrapped around their roots. And be sure to keep them well-sealed to keep everything in the fridge from taking on their smell.