Breme Onions
SEASONALITY
FLAVOUR PROFILE
Pungent and very aromatic in its raw state, its flesh turns incredibly creamy, with an intense, lingering sweetness when slow-cooked.
The Red Breme onion is extraordinary. Very large, it is also known as 'la dolcissima' ('the sweetest') for its incredible sweet taste. It is very aromatic and pungent, but its main quality has to be the lingering sweetness, which gets even more intense when cooked.
It is only cultivated in the municipality of Breme near Pavia, in Lombardy, in very small quantities, and for this reason it is very difficult to find - we are very proud to be able to introduce it to the UK market.
The growing process is very long and complex, the entire growing cycle takes nine months, which means the Breme onion is highly prized. Each year the growers select the best onions and let them flower to gather the seeds; the seeds are then put in hessian sacks, immersed in water and allowed to sprout; the small sprouts are then planted in greenhouses, and eventually transferred to the clay soil of the open fields of Breme.
‘These onions wouldn't grow anywhere else. The soil here is just special: if you try to plant them two miles away from here, rest assured they won't taste as good.’LUCA, OUR BREME ONIONS GROWER
