Onions & Garlic
Onions & Garlic
Onions and garlic are the foundations of more dishes than almost any other ingredients in the kitchen, which makes variety and quality critical. A Roscoff onion brought slowly to sweetness in butter is a different ingredient from a standard cooking onion. Lautrec pink garlic, with its IGP protection and distinctively mild, complex flavour, behaves differently in a dish from standard white garlic.
The range spans AOC-protected Roscoff onions from Brittany, PDO-certified Cévennes onions from southern France, IGP-certified Lautrec pink garlic from the Tarn, black garlic from France, smoked garlic, single clove garlic, and baby red onions. Several carry formal protected designations — a guarantee not just of origin but of the standards to which they are grown and produced.
The Onions
Roscoff (AOC)
Grown on the northern coast of Brittany, known for their sweetness and low pungency — a result of the maritime climate and granite-rich soils of the Léon peninsula. Excellent raw, slow-cooked, or roasted whole.
Season: August to April.
Cévennes (PDO)
A larger, golden-skinned variety with a mild, slightly honeyed flavour and an unusually low sulphur content — one of the few onions genuinely suited to eating raw without any harshness. Caramelises beautifully and holds its shape well in gratins and tarts. Grown in southern France and Spain depending on the season.
Available most of the year.
Baby Red Onions
Small, firm, sourced from Belgium and the Netherlands. Well suited to roasting whole, pickling, or braising. Available year-round.
Brittany Shallots
Stocked occasionally — a classic French grey shallot with a wine-like complexity worth ordering when available.
The Garlic
Lautrec Pink Garlic (IGP)
Grown exclusively around the town of Lautrec in the Tarn. Less sharp than standard white garlic, more nuanced in flavour, and longer lasting. Sold in packs of three heads and on traditional strings.
Season: September to May.
Smoked Garlic
Cold-smoked over wood, producing a mellower, rounder flavour with a gentle smoky depth. Available year-round in packs and on strings.
Single Clove Garlic
A Chinese cultivar in which the bulb develops as a single undivided clove. Clean garlic flavour and the practical advantage of a single skin to remove. Available year-round.
Black Garlic
Slowly fermented French garlic with a soft, jammy texture and a flavour that is sweet and complex — notes of balsamic and molasses, none of the pungency of fresh. Available year-round and one of the most versatile ingredients in the collection.
How To Cook
Roscoff
At their best when their natural sweetness is drawn out slowly — a long, gentle cook in butter produces a deeply flavoured base for French onion soup, tarts and sauces. Mild enough to eat raw, sliced thinly in a salad with mustard dressing. Do not rush them.
Cévennes
Caramelise exceptionally well owing to their high sugar content. Halved and roasted cut-side down in olive oil until deep golden, they make a simple and striking side dish. Equally good in a classic pissaladière or slow-cooked onion tart. Their low sulphur content also makes them one of the best onions for eating raw — sliced thinly in salads with none of the harsh aftertaste of standard onions.
Baby Red Onions
Best roasted whole — toss in olive oil, season, and roast at 200°C for 25 to 30 minutes until tender and lightly caramelised. They also pickle well in red wine vinegar with a little sugar and work in braises alongside meat.
Lautrec Pink Garlic
Mild enough to use more generously than standard garlic without overpowering a dish. Particularly good roasted whole — slice the top off a head, drizzle with olive oil, wrap in foil, and roast at 180°C for 40 to 45 minutes until the cloves are soft and spreadable. Use as a condiment, stir into mash, or spread on bread.
Smoked Garlic
Works well anywhere a more subtle, rounded garlic flavour is wanted. Particularly good in compound butters, slow braises and aioli. The smokiness integrates well with roast pork, lamb, and robust fish like monkfish or cod.
Single Clove
Convenient for preparations where whole cloves are used — confit garlic, roasted alongside meat, or halved and used to rub a pan or bread.
Black Garlic
The most versatile in terms of application. Stir into vinaigrettes, mash into butter, blend into mayonnaise, or use as a glaze for meat. A black garlic and miso butter alongside grilled beef is one of the more straightforward ways to add significant depth to a simple preparation.
Pairings & Recipe Ideas
Roscoff onion soup with Gruyère croutons is the obvious reference point, but Roscoff onions are equally good in a simpler preparation — slowly cooked in butter with thyme and a splash of white wine, served alongside roast chicken. Cévennes onions alongside roast lamb or in a Provençal tian. Baby red onions pickled and served alongside a charcuterie board, or roasted and served with grilled duck breast.
Lautrec pink garlic with roast lamb is a natural pairing — stud the joint with whole cloves before roasting and let the garlic mellow in the rendered fat. Black garlic with aged beef, miso, or dark chocolate-based sauces. Smoked garlic in a slow-cooked white bean stew with good olive oil and herbs.
For a simple way to use several varieties together: a warm salad of roasted Cévennes onions, baby red onions, and confit Lautrec garlic cloves with a sherry vinegar dressing — one of the best things you can put on a table with minimal effort.
Storage
Both onions and garlic store best in a cool, dry place with good air circulation and away from direct light. Avoid the refrigerator for whole, uncut onions and garlic — moisture accelerates deterioration and affects flavour.
Lautrec pink garlic and smoked garlic sold on strings are best hung in a cool kitchen or larder — both the most practical and the most traditional storage method. Heads sold in packs should be kept in a cool, dry spot and used within the season window.
Roscoff and Cévennes onions store well for several weeks in a cool, dark place — their relatively low water content and firm structure make them more robust than many other onion varieties. Baby red onions are more perishable — use within a week to ten days of delivery.
Black garlic should be kept in its packaging in a cool, dry place and will keep for several months. Once opened, refrigerate and use within a few weeks. Cut onions and garlic should be wrapped tightly, refrigerated, and used within 2 to 3 days. The flavour of cut garlic intensifies and becomes more pungent over time.
Sourcing & Protected Designations
Three products in this collection carry formal protected designations that guarantee both origin and production standards. Roscoff onions hold AOC status — the growing area is defined, the variety is specified, and the production methods are regulated. Cévennes onions hold PDO status, tying the variety to its home region in southern France. Lautrec pink garlic holds IGP status, tying the variety to its home region around Lautrec in the Tarn and ensuring traceability from field to sale.
These designations exist because provenance genuinely affects quality, and they provide a level of accountability that commodity supply chains do not. Buying AOC Roscoff, PDO Cévennes or IGP Lautrec is not a premium for its own sake — it is a guarantee that what you are buying is the real thing, grown where it should be grown, in the way it should be grown.
Beyond formal certification, the range is built around varieties with genuine culinary character rather than yield or shelf life optimisation. Cévennes onions, Roscoff onions and Lautrec garlic are all varieties that exist because growers and cooks have maintained them over generations for the quality of what they produce. We stock them for the same reason.
Delivery
UK next-working-day delivery on orders placed before 2pm. Complimentary weekday delivery on orders over £225.
