Onion

It is impossible to imagine much of Almería's cooking without the onion: it melts slowly into the sofrito, brings crunch to salads and softens slow-cooked dishes. Its cultivation is documented in the province — in the open-air huertas of the interior and the Levante that take over from the greenhouses in summer — but it remains secondary at Andalusian scale: a versatile open-field product, not an exclusive Almería signature.

The onion forms its bulb in response to day length: so-called short-day varieties start the process with about eleven to thirteen hours of light; intermediate and long-day types ask for more. That physiology explains the succession of commercial families in the farming calendars — early Babosa, Liria or medio grano, Valenciana or grano, plus fresh onions — and the staggering of sowings and harvests, yielding bulbs more or less sweet, juicy or fit for storage.

Its role at the table is that of a foundation: invisible yet indispensable. Raw and thinly sliced in pipirrana or ensaladilla, melted into the base of seafood stews, slow-cooked alongside papas a lo pobre — hardly any dish in the province gets going without it.