Victory onion (Allium victorialis)
As many other people, I´m very fond of ramsons (Allium ursinum), I even had them in the garden (and maybe still have). Ramsons are invasive where they thrive. They went under the raspberries, to keep them down, but I’ve had second thoughts and given the plants I could detect away. The good thing about ramsons is that you in short time have a lot of them to eat, and no matter how much you pick (or weed) them they just continue growing.
Some years ago I had victory onion from several sources. It is much larger than ramsons, and where ramsons defoliate in the summer, victory onion keeps the leaves into the autumn. The very best is that it spreads very slowly, like a peony, and selfseeding is no problem. Only some of the seeds will sprout, and in the years they need to grow mature, they are very sensitive to animals activities. In other words – I have plenty of time to weed any volunteers if any should come.
It is actually quite difficult to grow from seed in open ground, due the the many mishappenings that are likely to hit small seedling in an ordinary garden in a span of five years. I haven’t succeded yet.
In wintertime the nettet stubs remind me where victory onion grows
My first encounter with victory onion was in Siberia 1993. At most of the meals in private homes was served a sidedish черемша (cheremsha or tjeremsha), salted victory onion in smetana. I immediately became a fan of cheremsha! I love caviar, but this is even better. For years I tried to convince somebody in Siberia to send me seeds or plants, they only laughed at me and tried to make me understand that their victory onion can’t grow in gardens, they grow in the taiga and only there!
For years I only saw leaves
Stubborn or persistent? I started a search on the internet. Found Stephen Barstow in Norway, who send me some seeds of victory onion. I couldn’t get them to grow, but then I made contact with a friendly japanese woman in Sapporo in Japan. I had seen her photos of Allium victorialis in her garden. She send me seeds, and some of them sprouted after 6 months. Unfortunately they were all destroyed by animals passing my gardens in the next three years, although I did try to protect them with chickenwire. Time is a serious factor in the culture of victory onion.
Stephen Barstow has written about victory onion (seiersløk).
Victory onion in flower – after years waiting
The seedy failures didn’t change me being stubborn/persistant. A dutch bulbcompany N.C. Nijssen offered two clones – ofcourse I had to buy both. Now I had a clone from Kemerovo in western Siberia and one from Cantabria in Spain. The one from Kemerovo is almost half size of the cantabrian one. A year after this “victory”, I saw some norwegians writing in a webboard about a local variety, grown in gardens on some of the Islands in Lofoten. I made contact with a norwegian woman on the island Vestvågøy, who send me a victory onion from her garden. Interestingly it seems, that her plant is the one that grows best in my garden. Investigations in the genetics of this victory onion shows, that it is likely to have come from Caucasus, where it once was in garden culture, and brought to Vestvågøy by vikings 1000 years ago.
Seedhead, victory onion clone from Kemerovo in Siberia
Victory onion clone from Kemerovo has been very willing to flower and produce seeds. I’ve collected the seeds and shared them with other seedsavers, telling them about the challenge.
Stephen Barstow visited danish gardens in the summer 2008, I was lucky – he passed by my garden. He even brought me gifts: Allium victorialis spp. platyphyllum and Allium ochotense. The first is the same kind as the one I tried to grow from seeds from Japan, the other one is a synonym for Allium victorialis spp. platyphyllum. I wonder if they will look just alike. There could be differences, as it is not the same clone. And if I should decide to collect seeds, it’s a benefit to have parent plants that are not the same clone. They are both from far east asia, although I formerly wrote in this post that the latter was from Estonia. Well it passed through Estonia on its way to my garden. It probably passed a lot more countries, since departure from it’s original habitat.
May 24, 2009 at 16:47
Wow – this looks exactly like our native allium triccocum, which is abundant among our maple trees. I am very intrigued by tjeremsha – what is smetana? I would like to try making tjeremsha with a. tricoccum.
May 24, 2009 at 22:07
Allium tricoccum is a very close relative of Allium victorialis. I would love one in my garden.
Smetane is a high fat sour cream:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smetana_(dairy_product)
Tjeremsha is made in a way similar to sauerkraut, just with a bit more salt. Cut the leaves, squeese them til they are juicy and add aproximately 3% salt by weight. Stuff it in a jar, press it fermly to press any air out and be sure all leaves are covered by the juice. Don’t tighten the lid the first days, as the fermenting starts. Tighten the lid as soon as the fermenting slows down, and store cool. I store it in the refridgerator. Leave for a month or more to mature. Taste great mixed with smetana, served on toast.
August 28, 2009 at 13:06
I am so glad to know somebody is so interested in growing Allium victorialis. In Japan(Allium victorialis subsp. platyphyllum) it is very popular at the moment but seeds and bulbs are so expensive. I am trying to buy in Uk where I live and found Allium victorialis ‘Cantabria’ ,Allium victorialis ‘Kemerovo’ in the catalogue. Do you think they are the same alliums which you mentioned in your article and they are edible. I would like to grow them to eat just like in Japan.
August 31, 2009 at 21:25
I have both A. victorialis ‘Cantabria’ and A. victorialis ‘Kemerovo’. Kemerovo is much smaller than Cantabria and the others I grow. I think you would be very satisfied with ‘Cantabria’. Thye are both edible, in fact any Allium is edible, if the structure of the leaves are pleaseant!
March 27, 2010 at 07:03
Wow, so heres the deal…i grew up in Minsk, Belarus. I now live in the states and as I have been growing older began being interested more and more in the traditional Russian inspired flavors which I grew up with back home and which are difficult to come by around here. Even though you can purchase cheremsha at local European deli stores sometimes, it is just not the same as home made stuff I remember from back in the old country. Is there any way we can talk about swapping some seeds? I have an heirloom cherry tomato strain which dates back to at least 1820 which was brought to NY by a great great grandmother of an old man whom Ive met here in Seattle. He had pictures of these plants reaching 16′ tall and producing large numbers of tomatoes. I am about to put mine into soil tomorrow 🙂 Would be nice to try growing some cheremsha.
March 28, 2010 at 17:07
Hello Pavel, sorry, I have no more seeds this year.
I wonder, if the cheremsha of Belarus is made from Allium ursinum, instead of the siberian A. victorialis?
A. ursinum is quite invasive, I couldn’t recommend growing it in a garden. But in USA you have the ramps (Allium tricoccum), closely related to A. victorialis.
Pavel, I guess HomeGrown Goodness is a place for you: http://alanbishop.proboards.com