The shalott and the shallot: very different but both shed tears

Whenever I hear the word shalott I think of the great Lord Alfred Tennyson’s poem, ‘The Lady of Shalott’ and the painting by John William Waterhouse (1888). Trapped and isolated in a castle, it only has one window. The Lady of Shallot weaves on her loom the world she sees through a mirror that reflects the view through the window. The island of Shalott is surrounded by water with lilies, and on the banks are flowers, barley, rye, willows, and aspen, says the poem. Living near King Arthur’s castle called Camelot, she sees the reflection of bold Sir Lancelot (one of the king's knights) as he rides “between the barley sheaves.” She is forbidden to look directly at the real world and at him, but she can’t resist going to the window to look at him.

She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces through the room,
She saw the water-lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
    She look'd down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
"The curse is come upon me," cried
    The Lady of Shalott.

In the medieval ballad, written in 1833 and revised in 1842, the English poet, Lord Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) told a tragic tale, one to make even Sir Lancelot weep. Actually he didn't cry, although he uttered “She has a lovely face; God in his mercy lend her grace, The Lady of Shalott.” The fascination with the poem emanates from her isolation and elusiveness, as well as her escape into the real world.

But a shallot, in the real world (with two ‘l’s and one ‘t’) is a type of onion, probably originating in central or southeast Asia.

In Kashmir, the shallot is called a ‘praan’ (Rising Kashmir, April 5, 2014 in ‘Kashmir Shallot – a prized plant of Kashmir’). Smaller than a regular onion, and like garlic, it has clusters of cloves, with the outer colour varying from golden brown to rose red.

But the praan should not be planted in water-logged soil. The praan is a prolific grower in Kashmir, planted in February or early March with the tops of the bulbs kept a little above ground, and maturing in summer from July to August. It has a unique onion taste because it has less water stored in its bulbs than regular onions.

Like onions and garlic, when raw shallots or praan are sliced, an enzyme is released that causes the eyes to weep tears – known as the lachrymatory factor.

Kashmiris love their spices, and the praan is no exception, cooked and eaten in a large variety of meals, from omelettes to Roghan Josh. The Rising Kashmir article states that, according to Kashmiri chefs, an average of five to six kilograms of praan is needed to cook one quintal (a 100 kilograms) of mutton. But, like onion and garlic, the praan also has health benefits. The praan, say the experts, cannot be substituted because although there are similar variants grown in other locations, the Kashmir Shallot is unique.

http://www.risingkashmir.com/kashmir-shallot-a-prized-plant-of-kashmir/