At Queen’s College, we really do know our onions… white, yellow, and spring in fact all edible ‘Alliums’ including our giant garlic!

Onions and garlic are a kitchen favourite here at school which is why they are such a popular choice for our pupils to grow at school in our various Growing Food Clubs from Prep to Sixth Form.

Our pupils grow the onions and garlic from seed in the Autumn in our school polytunnel and then repot them before planting them in our organic vegetable plots around the school (using our composted school food waste). Then it is just a matter of the pupils tending to them watering them (using collected rainwater of the the school building roofs), pulling up weeds, and tidying around them before harvesting their homegrown fresh produce.

“Onions and garlic are wildly versatile and used in so many foods”, says Mr Mann, Head of the Faculty of Art, Design and Food, “From bhuna to bolognese they form the foundation of countless dishes from all over the world and play a starring role in foods like French Onion Soup or an Onion Gravy”.

It’s a ‘crying’ shame we don’t utilise these wonderful fresh British vegetables more in the UK, but perhaps ‘crying’ is the reason why. Mr Mann’s top tip is cutting them with a very sharp knife which will mean you’re rupturing fewer of the cell walls that contain the lachrymator compounds, which make you cry, but remember adult supervision when using a sharp knife in the kitchen and always use the ‘bridge’ and ‘claw’ safe cutting skills taught in our Food and Nutrition classes at Queen’s College.