One of
the major challenges facing produce retailers in recent years is how
to sort out fact from fiction. This is particularly true when it comes
to determining what constitutes a “sweet” onion. Onions,
purpoted to be sweet, have been pouring into an already crowded category
from literally everywhere.
What has many concerned is the growing feedback from consumers unhappy
after biting into what they had been told was a sweet onion only to
find it hot. There are allegations of mislabelings as well as increasing
concerns over diminished consumption and product credibility.
“The only real way to demonstrate that an onion is sweet is
to test,” states Dr. Bill Randle, a professor of horticulture
at the University of Georgia (UGA), Athens. “If you tell the
consumer, ‘Yes, our onions are sweet, trust me,’ credibility
is lost when they are not. A lot of non-sweet onions have been sold
as ‘sweets.’ Even in Georgia, some of the onions produced
would not be considered sweet. There is more to producing a mild sweet
onion than simply growing a certain variety or producing it in a traditional
‘sweet onion’ region.”
David Burrell, president of National Onion Labs Inc. (NOL), previously
known as Vidalia Labs International Inc., and a long-time advocate
of pungency testing, says his experience has shown there are good
reasons to be concerned, even alarmed, with the sweet onion category.
Changing Trends
Burrell Notes that several trends have occurred in traditional “sweet
onion” areas which have had a potential negative effect on consumer
satisfaction. In some cases, the precise management of the crop, which
is necessary to maintain the pleasant flavor profile, has not kept
pace with the rapid growth in acreage.
Randle agrees. “Grower knowledge and effective management are
the most important factors which determine whether the crop will be
mild and pleasant or hot and pungent,” he says. “It’s
all in the grower’s hands, everything from variety selection
to fertilizer application and irrigation rates. If done correctly,
the result is a sweet and mild onion. If mismanaged, the same onion
becomes unacceptably pungent. This is a world-wide phenomenon. It
doesn’t matter whether the location is Georgia, Walla Walla,
Wash., or South America, the grower makes the most critical contribution.”
Burrell points to the example of Cowart Farms, a Vidalia operation
he considers to be among the best. “In their earlier years in
the industry, they were good growers, but many onions were more pungents
than they should have been,” he says. “However, by rigorously
analyzing their fields and testing their onions, they were able to
make the necessary adjustments here and there, and now there onions
are among the best in terms of yield, very low pungency and overall,
quality.”
Paying attention to the crop and increasing your knowledge of what
it takes to produce a mild onion is what it is all about, Burrell
adds. Testing soils and analyzing pungency are simply tools to help
the grower make the right decisions and obtain more consistent flavors.
The Vidalia production region is probably the most conducive area
in the world to produce a mild onion, Randle believes. Climatic, soil
and water conditions are favorable for sweet onion production. However,
according to NOL, high quality low pungency onions can also be grown
in a number of other spring-time areas, such as Texas and Walla Walla.
It is simply a little harder in these locations.
Onions harvested in the late summer and fall are far more likely to
be pungent, regardless of the cultural practices used to produce them,
because they are genetically more efficient at producing the compunds
that cause high pungency, Randle notes.
Introduction of New Varieties
Other factors strongly influencing onion flavor are the Japanese over-wintering
varieties which have very early maturity in the Vidalia area. These
can have inconsistent flavors, Burrell says. While such varieties
have enabled growers to expand their marketing window, many do not
produce the mild and pleasant flavors that consumers expect when eating
a sweet onion.
On the other hand, there are a number of “new” sweet onion
varieties now available that produce excellent flavors, Burrell says.
However, without testing, farmers are simply in the dark about the
flavors they are obtaining.
“All of the traditional sweet onion production areas have a
little mud on their faces because they haven’t taken care of
business,” Burrell asserts. “They haven’t protected
themselves against consumer dissatisfaction by doing everything possible
to make sure that their onions are truly sweet.”
Complicating this confusing scenario is the entry of many new production
areas. Facing poor returns in the market-place, many traditional storage
growers, for example, have been attracted to the premium prices the
low pungency market sometimes brings. The pungency readings on the
onion they deliver to the marketplace labeled as “sweets,”
however, have varying degrees of integrity. Randle and Burrell agree
that this further underscores the need for testing.
