Rakkyo

Rakkyo

What it is

Rakkyō is Allium chinense, a different species from shallot or onion, and Japan's best grow in the coastal sand dunes of Tottori, where poor sand and hard winters make small dense bulbs. It arrived from China around the ninth century as a medicinal plant and only much later became the thing set beside curry rice.

In the kitchen

Brine the raw bulbs in salt for a week before the sweet vinegar goes on — skip that and they go soft and smell of cut onion. Kept cold they stay glassy for a year; at room temperature the jar clouds within a month.

Goes with

Rice Rice vinegar White sugar Turmeric Pork Chili pepper Salt

Same species

Arleux smoked garlic Banana shallot Black garlic Calçot Cévennes sweet onion Chives

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