Harvesting Shallots

I harvested my Shallots a couple of days ago. They had reached the stage where their leaves had flopped over and dried out and the bulbs were looking pretty big. So I took advantage of a sunny day and dug the whole harvest up.

I put them in a wooden tray to dry in the sun for a few days – with the precaution of the lid from my Victorian cloche over them. And today I rubbed off the dirt and put them in this old sieve ready for storage.

They like to have air circulating around them so anything with holes in is ideal. Sometimes I use old Orange bags, or netted shopping bags if I have a lot to store.

I’m pretty happy with the harvest. Last year I grew Longor Shallots which are more bullet shaped than these. This year I went for round ones (can’t remember the variety). Some are a little small but they make a good addition to my son, Jackson’s, meals since he won’t eat a lot of oniony flavours anyway.

I always feel a bit smug when I put away the first harvest of the season for storing. I’m always a bit sad when I see Lettuce go to seed, or a Cauliflower go over. All that effort and I just wasn’t quick enough to enjoy it. With Onions and Shallots it’s a different story – none of it goes to waste (assuming none of them rot) and it feels good to know that all my effort will be rewarded over the coming months.

Category: Storing & Preserving, Vegetables     Tagged:

6 Comments on “Harvesting Shallots”

  1. They look great, I’ve just done a post on harvesting mine as well.

  2. Your shallots are beautiful. I’m growing them for the first time this year, so your post gives me some good hints for storing them. Thanks!

  3. Old laddered tights work well for both shallot and onion storage

  4. Shallots are much more satisfying than onions, I think. I mean what’s the point of putting in a small onion to get a bigger one out, when you can put in one shallot and gets lots more out?

  6. Am i right in saying that shallots are not as strong tasting as normal onions. I have never grown shallots i have just gone for the larger stronger onions. Might give them a go because my little lad doesnt like strong onion taste if it worked for you it might work for me thanks.