How to eat calçots the Catalan way in Hong Kong

Olivia Rosenman

Chef Juanjo Carrillo demonstrates the Catalan way of eating calçots.

In 1898, a farmer called Xat de Benaiges, in Valls, Catalonia, dug up his white onions five months after they had been sown and replanted them. His experiment gave birth to the calçot - a vegetable that is registered with the European Union's Protected Geographical Indication scheme and can only be produced in four Catalan counties. It's the champagne of onions.

Chef Juanjo Carrillo demonstrates the Catalan way of eating calçots.
Chef Juanjo Carrillo demonstrates the Catalan way of eating calçots.
To try this sweet-tasting delicacy no longer must you travel all the way to the northeast of Spain, where 31 million calçots are churned out each year between November and March, and the annual Gran Fiesta de la Calçotada, in Valls, attracts 30,000 visitors.
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