The Culinary Comeback of the Shallot: from Asian Street Food to Crispy Viral Garnishes

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To understand what makes a shallot unique, start below the soil line. Shallots belong to the sprawling allium family, which counts garlic, leeks, scallions, and standard onions among its relatives. For decades, botanists classified the shallot as its own distinct species, Allium ascalonicum. Modern taxonomic research reclassified the plant as a botanical variety of the common onion: Allium cepa var. aggregatum.

That variety name reveals its defining structural trait. Unlike a standard onion, which forms a single large, concentric sphere from a solitary seed, shallots develop in tight shallot bulb clusters beneath thin, papery skins. Peeling back the coppery-pink wrapper typically exposes two to three distinct lobes or cloves joined at a woody base plate.

Growers and chefs distinguish between two primary categories in commercial distribution:

• Dutch Shallots (Jersey Shallots): The teardrop-shaped bulbs ubiquitous in mainstream supermarkets, characterized by copper-red skin, pink-tinted inner flesh, and a crisp, mild bite.
• French Grey Shallot (Griselle): Long prized among gourmet cooking staples, this heirloom variety features thick, grayish skin, elongated bulbs, and a deeper, more pungent, earthy profile. Culinary purists consider the French grey shallot the gold standard for reductions and charcuterie pairings.