Today was a wonderful Saturday morning because I went to not just one, but TWO Farmers Markets! I’m devoted to the Cary Downtown Farmers Market, but I love Farmers Markets in general. When we are out of town and have a free early Saturday morning, we usually try to check out the local Farmers Market (Williamsburg, which is where my brother and niece and their families live, has a GREAT one).

This morning, I arrived at my usual Cary Downtown Farmers Market a little before 8, which is when it opens. I filled my basket with love, fresh, organic-ish produce. Among that produce are the three alliums shown above.

After that, I went to the Western Wake Farmers Market. I wasn’t looking to buy more produce, but they were having a Craft Fair, so I went to check it out (see my previous blog if you need that story). I spent a while there with my car sitting in the sun. When I returned, my car had a beautiful aroma of a mild garlic/onion smell. That may not bring you joy, but it did for me. Garlic and onions are the beginning of so many wonderful food experiences for me, it just sparks joy. Hence the title of this post.

Alliums, if you don’t know, is the term for the family of savory bulb plants, such as onions, garlic, shallots, chives, scallions, leeks, and such. They are a mainstay of my cooking. Sometimes when I’m trying to figure out what to cook, I just start cooking onions and garlic since I assume they will be part of whatever I eventually decide to make. Fortunately, they are encouraged in my current 30 day detox diet (click here to learn about that).

While the picture above may look like all the plants are the same, they are not. The uppermost and lowermost ones are scallions, also known as green onions. The one beneath the uppermost scallion is a seasonal treasure know as green garlic. You can see that its greens are thicker and wider than the others.

Green garlic is basically just baby garlic. Apparently (I’m not a farmer), farmers may prune their spring garlic sprouts to sell some as green garlic and to give the remaining ones more room for their bulbs to expand into classic garlic. I love green garlic. It has a definite garlic taste, but gentler, more subtle. The taste is most pronounced in the white bulb area, but the green parts also contribute to the garlicly taste in a dish. They are so much easier to deal with than garlic cloves that I love the few weeks in the year I can use them instead of traditional garlic.

The one in-between the lower scallion and the green garlic is chives. Apparently they grow with the beautiful purple blossom shown, which is also edible.

Supposedly onions, which none of these are directly, are the second-most grown vegetable in the world. Any guesses what the number one is? Onions and garlic are number one in my cooking, but it’s fun to think about what is the most used vegetable around the world.

If you have a guess, post it in the comments.

And if you go to Farmers Markets, grab some green garlic while you can.

PS: And I still haven’t gotten to my best Farmers Market story of the day yet! Stay tuned for more market goodies….