Calories in Shallots, bulb, peeled, root removed

What makes shallots so powerful?

The word 'shallot' derives from Ashkelon, an ancient trading city in present-day Israel, from which Crusaders reportedly carried the bulbs to medieval Europe. Botanically, shallots are classified as Allium cepa var. aggregatum — a subspecies of the common onion that, unlike standard onions, multiplies underground into a cluster of separate cloves rather than forming a single bulb. Most traditional shallot cultivars are propagated vegetatively from bulbs rather than from seed, because many varieties produce flowers but set viable seed poorly or not at all. This reproductive quirk means that shallot genetics are preserved clonally across generations, which is why heirloom shallot lines can remain remarkably consistent for centuries. Chemically, shallots differ from common onions in their balance of organosulfur precursors: they contain proportionally more of certain S-alk(en)yl-L-cysteine sulfoxides that, when the tissue is cut and the enzyme alliinase is released, yield a sweeter, more complex volatile profile than the sharper, more acrid compounds dominant in yellow or white onions. This is why shallots taste gentler and more layered even though they belong to the same species.