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Do you know why the calçot is called a calçot?
Almost every vegetable is named for what it is. The calçot is named for the work done to it.
It comes from «calçar»
In Catalan calçar is to draw earth up around the foot of the plant, like putting a shoe on it. It is done by hand, mound by mound, and repeated as the plant pushes upwards. The part left buried grows without seeing the light: that is why it comes out white, tender and long. The name did not come out of a catalogue, it came out of the gesture.
It is an onion that has lived twice
A calçot is not sown as a calçot. An onion is planted, left to get on with it, lifted and planted again; from that second round come the shoots that get earthed up. Put another way: what you buy is the second year of work on the same plant, not the first.
Why we are telling you here
Because it explains something that comes up all over farming: a lot of what looks like a trade name is really the description of a job of work. When someone at a farm tells you what something is called, they are almost always telling you how it is done as well.
Carry on here
- Do you know why the potato you buy does not sprout?
- Do you know what happens to a banana before it reaches your fruit bowl?
- Do you know where it comes from and how long it has been in store?
- Do you know exactly what a comarca is?
- Do you know why a farm's tomatoes do not all come the same?
- Do you know where the word «payés» comes from?
- Do you know the same vegetable changes its name in 30 km?
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