Where does the green part of the scallion start and the white part end

onions

I've been using Hello Fresh for a while now and many of their recipes include the step: "Trim and thinly slice scallions, separating whites from greens." Looking at a typical scallion, I see a clearly green part, a clearly white part, and a relatively substantial greenish-white no man's land in the in the middle.

Picture of a scallion with the different colored regions annotated.

In the recipes, the greens are used as a garnish or sometimes in salsas, so I feel like the super green, super thin parts are most desirable there. The whites, on the other hand, are usually used as a cooked ingredient, sometimes, but not always in something lightly colored like rice. In my gut, the greenish-white part feel like it should be considered a white, up until the part where it loses it's white-ish moisture and softness. Are there any problems (flavor, cooked texture, etc) I should worry about by using that middle section as whites, or where should I draw the line?

Best Answer

If you want to be really, really picky, then the 'green' is each individual leaf as it breaks away from the cylindrical whole.

That leaves you with the decision as to whether to pick off each leaf, giving you a bit of extra 'white' or just make some relatively arbitrary decision after you hit that first leaf 'node'.

So, unless you want to pick off each leaf, then it's 'about here… ish… '

enter image description here

Personally, if I'm being 'a bit picky' I will unwrap the outer layer for the first couple of nodes, where they go unattractively lumpy, purely for aesthetic reasons & include the rest in my 'white' distinction. Once I get far enough I [that I can't be bothered any further] then I pick out any remaining 'white' bits & go all-in for the rest of the greens, until I hit the raggy ends, which join the roots in the compost bag.
Once you've actually cut to the green line, separation for 'fussy distinction' reasons does get easier, as you're no longer dealing with the entirety of the onion & its reluctance to part layers without ripping down to the root - you can just pull bits off & deal with them separately.

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