The best onions to use with cucumbers?

J

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I'm talking about standard American cucumbers, if that makes a difference. I'm planning to make a cucumber and radish salsa, but I'm thinking ahead to cucumber salads in the summertime as well. My husband and I are not fans of white, yellow, or brown onions. We love the red ones, but I don't want them competing with the radishes. What I'm hoping to discover is which of the remaining candidates, which I guess means leeks, scallions, shallots, and green onions, would best accent the fresh flavor of cucumber.

What do you think? :-)
 
Just FYI, the red onions will bleed and make things pink if you are using vinegar or some other kind of acid, or cooking at all.

Scallions and green onions are the same thing.

You can soak sliced white, yellow, brown, red onions in ice water for a half hour or so, then drain and blot dry, then use in your recipe. Doing this will remove a lot of the harsh, in your face onion flavor, which is probably what you don't like. You don't need to do this with the Vadalias, or any of the other sweet onion varieties.
 
Thank you for all the replies so far! If you'll check my original post, though, you'll see that I'm asking for a recommendation that is NOT white, yellow, or brown (Vidalia) onions, because we don't like those varieties (not because they are too strong, but because we find them bland and boring). Red onion, our favorite, is too close to the flavor of the radishes and will compete too much with them.

I'm hoping to determine which of the other varieties of onions, leeks, scallions, etc, has the sort of fresh taste that will best accent cucumbers. Or put another way, if you had to make a cucumber salad or salsa with onion that was NOT white, yellow, brown, or red, which ones would you use? :-)
 
Have you considered the use of chives? Homegrown are always the best so that you can use a decent quantity plus they have a better flavour imo.

I can't personally see anyone using leeks in such a salad because of tbe necessity tho cook them.
Otherwise, spring onions (aka green onions or scallions but not shallots) would work nicely as well. I know of several salad dishes that use them extensively and successfully.
 
Leeks don't need to be cooked… Unless you have a different variety in Oz than we do in America? We're not chives fans; the flavor is too delicate.

The people I've been asking seem to be pretty evenly divided as to whether scallions or shallots would be the best choice. There are many salad recipes containing cucumbers and one or the other of the contenders, so clearly both get used. Which one has the better crunch and fresher taste?
 
I really like using green onions in this situation. Just slice them in thin rings, and scatter them as needed. I can't see them competing with the radishes, and they provide a nice visual appeal, too. But, it sounds like they'd be too subtle for what you want.

Shallots are relatively mild, too, but maybe that would work?
 
I'm definitely leaning towards using green onions, as it seems like they have more of the fresh flavor I'm looking for. I need something more subtle than red onion that isn't in the category of onions that we don't like, so the options are limited; I'm even getting white wine vinegar instead of our favorite red so as not to overwhelm the cucumbers.
 
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