Pingtung Onions Creatively Turned into Vegan Soy-Sauce Meat-Sauce Aroma, Plus Turmeric Onion Juice and Onion Rice Guaiguai

Liao Zhanyi, director-general of the Pingtung County Farmers' Association, this year during the Taiwan Lantern Festival at Dapeng Bay in Pingtung, the county government gave crispy rice guaiguai to soothe tourists stuck in long queues, and the flavor actually chosen came from a health-promoting crop of southern Taiwan - onions? Onions in dishes are nothing new, but have you ever drunk an energy drink made by blending onions with Chinese herbal medicine?

Promotion Department of the Fangshan Area Farmers' Association

The research and development and launch of processed onion products are mostly not smooth sailing. "Having an idea does not mean it can be expanded." The Promotion Department of the Fangshan Area Farmers' Association said that in the past the farmers' association had dried onions and made them into crispy slice snacks, but the shelf life was too short and the cost was unbearable, so they could only give up.

"When it was made as a trial product, everyone who tasted it said it was delicious. The problem was that the shelf life was too short. It is not a matter of leaving it for half a year or a year; after that time, when you open it and eat it, you feel it is not tasty - leave it too long and an oily smell comes out. We had to overcome preservation and moisture protection; and the unit cost was super expensive. A bag of potato chips on the market is 20 yuan, while our bag of several tens of grams was 40 or 50 yuan. We calculated that the market might not be able to push it." The Promotion Department admitted frankly that the products launched by the farmers' association use real ingredients, but marketing and distribution channels are a weaker link for the farmers' association, and when taken to the market to compete they fall short, so they could only withdraw sadly.

Onion rice guaiguai, onion red wine, expanding the potential of onions

In addition to industry-academia cooperation, the Hengchun Township Farmers' Association also tried other processed onion products. At the beginning of this year, the Pingtung County Government gave "onion rice guaiguai" to tourists waiting for buses at the Taiwan Lantern Festival. It was made by a food manufacturer in cooperation with the farmers' association, which purchased onions during the peak production period and ground them into powder, and it was even sold in limited quantities at convenience stores for a time.

Lin Shunhe said: "4 tonnes of onions can only be ground into 200 kilograms of powder... Sales were good, but the manufacturer's strategy is for seasonal items, making only one batch (a year). We originally wanted long-term cooperation." In addition, in order to maintain the freshness of onion products in the consumer market, the farmers' association adjusts the packaging of onion red wine that has been on the market for 6 or 7 years every 3 or 4 years, giving consumers a refreshing feeling, and hopes that through processing it can continue to polish the Pingtung onion brand.