Negi
welsh onion
Allium fistulosum
ネギ
[Field of negi in Kyoto]
The most favorite onion in Japan is called negi (allium fistulosum), a delicious aromatic plant with a soft and sweet rather than a strong and spicy taste, grown for the leafy stems. "Negi" is usually translated as "welsh onion" but this should be written with a small "w" as the name has nothing to do with Wales. It is an old word, according to the Oxford Dictionary, in the 18th c. derived from the German "welsch" meaning "foreign." Other names are bunching onion (bunching refers to the way the plant grows, in bunches or clusters), scallion, spring onion or green onion. Some of these names are ambiguous (esp. the last two) as they are used loosely for any young green onion stalk of different varieties. Our negi is characterized by the facts (1) that it does not develop bulbs, and (2) that it possesses hollow leaves (fistulosum means "hollow") and scapes (scapes are long shafts or stems). Larger varieties of negi may visually resemble the leek (but negi are thinner and longer, and the taste is completely different), and smaller ones chives. Negi is a perennial and can multiply by forming clusters.
Negi originated more than 2,000 years ago in Western China. They came to Japan via Korea and are first mentioned in the Nihonshoki, which was compiled in 720 CE. The largest cultivation of negi takes places in the Kanto (Chiba, Saitama and Ibaraki, together good for about 40% of the national production). Japan is the second largest negi producer in the world; China is No. 1.
Negi are produced the year round, so there is no typical best season, although they are sweetest in winter, between late autumn and early spring.
There are many local varieties of negi in Japan, such as Kyoto's kujonegi. Naganegi ("naga" means "long") are a long variety of negi valued for its large amount of white. In contrast, negi are shorter and slimmer and only have a short white part. It is the leafy, green part that is mainly used.
Some other related types are:
- wakegi, called "autumn 'spring' onion" by Richard Hosking (A Dictionary of Japanese Food, p. 169) and "tree onion" by Wikipedia; it is a cross between negi and onion and has a small bulb. The green of the stem is however used in the same way as negi (see below). Mainly produced in Hiroshima Prefecture.
- asatsuki, "asatsuki chive." Hosking says that asatsuki is similar to wakegi and mentions that the leaves are shallow-fried as a vegetable, used in nabemono (one pot dishes) or as a herb flavoring with sashimi. The stems of asatsuki are thinner than of negi. Traditionally grown in Yamagata and Fukushima.
[Finely chopped negi (plus katsuobushi shavings and a dab of wasabi), to be added to the dipping sauce for cold soba noodles]
Negi are always used finely chopped (in that state, they are called sarashi-negi or kizami-negi):
- Added to dips (for zaru-soba, zaru-udon, shabu-shabu etc)
- Added to (miso-) soups.
- Also used as a garnish, for example for hiyayakko (a block of cold tofu).
Naganegi are used in negima, a type of yakitori.