Green onions are young onions harvested before the bulb swells, eaten stalk and all rather than dried and cured like a mature onion. They are also called scallions or spring onions, though some cooks reserve "spring onion" for a slightly older plant with a small developed bulb.
Native to East Asia, green onions have long been a staple in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean cooking and are now grown commercially worldwide, including in the United States and Europe.
The white and pale-green base has a milder, sweeter flavor than the darker, more pungent green tops; both are edible. They're essential to stir-fries, soups, and dumplings in Chinese cuisine, kimchi and bulgogi in Korean cooking, and miso soup and sushi in Japanese cooking, and appear widely in Mexican, Indian, and Mediterranean dishes. Green onions pair well with garlic, ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce, and citrus.