Tag Archives: Wietse Mellema

Wietse’s Onion Soup with Udos, Hosta, Ostrich Ferns, Sea Kale and Ramsons

The best of spring in one sitting. In celebration of the country Norway, we yesterday (17th May) harvested a small selection of the best blanched perennial vegetables (apart from the ostrich fern which had to be harvested or it would have been too late). This included three udo species (Aralia cordata, Aralia californica and Aralia racemosa), sea kale (Crambe maritima), Hosta “Big Daddy” together with delicious sweet blanched ramsons (Allium ursinum) . They were all eaten raw (apart from the fern which was steamed for 10 minutes) with a Japanese dipping sauce – olive oil (should have been sesame), tamari (soy sauce) and roasted sesame seeds. These accompanied an onion soup prepared with half of the leaves from one plant of Wietses Onion, a vigorous hybrid of Allium pskemense and Allium fistulosum!
It doesn’t get much better than this!  More information with the pictures:



The Utrecht Allium Border

Probably the best display of Alliums I’ve seen, a special project this year at the Utrecht Botanical Garden, showing off the diversity in the onion family!
Quite a few of the plants were sourced from the Dutch Allium maestro, Wietse Mellema, without whom  (and Gerard van Buiten) I doubt it would have been this special!
Enjoy!