Pingtung onions inspire a wealth of processing creativity: onion Guai Guai snacks, soy sauce, and turmeric onion drinks all take the stage

This year, during the Taiwan Lantern Festival at Dapeng Bay in Pingtung, the county government handed out crispy rice Guai Guai snacks to soothe tourists stuck in long lines -- and the flavor turned out to be made from a healthful crop from southern Taiwan: onions? Putting onions in dishes is nothing unusual, but have you ever tried an energy drink made by blending onions with traditional Chinese medicine herbs?

Processing R&D Is Never Smooth Sailing; Both Marketing and Distribution Channels Require Effort

The development and launch of processed onion products is, more often than not, anything but smooth sailing. "Having an idea doesn't mean you can expand it into the market," said the extension department of the Fangshan Township Farmers' Association. In the past, the association dried onions and made them into crispy snack chips, but the shelf life was too short and the costs were unsustainable, so they had to give up.

"When we made the trial batch, everyone who tried it said it was delicious. The problem was the shelf life was too short -- it's not like you could leave it for half a year or a year; past that point, when you open it and eat it, you just don't find it tasty anymore. Leave it too long and a rancid oil smell comes out, so you have to overcome the issues of preservation and moisture resistance. On top of that, the unit cost was extremely high: a bag of potato chips on the market is 20 yuan, while ours was 40 or 50 yuan for a bag of just a few dozen grams. We calculated that the market probably wouldn't be able to move it." The extension department admitted frankly that the products the association launched used real, quality ingredients, but marketing and distribution channels were the association's weaker links, leaving it a step behind when competing in the market -- so it could only bow out quietly.

Onion Rice Guai Guai and Onion Red Wine Expand the Potential of Onions

Beyond industry-academic collaboration, the Hengchun Township Farmers' Association has also tried other processed onion products. Early this year, the "onion rice Guai Guai" that the Pingtung County Government handed out to tourists waiting for buses at the Taiwan Lantern Festival was made by a food manufacturer working with the farmers' association, which purchased onions during peak harvest season and ground them into powder -- it was even sold in limited quantities at convenience stores for a time.

Lin Shun-he said: "It takes 4 tons of onions to grind into 200 kilograms of powder... Sales were good, but the manufacturer's strategy was for something seasonal, making only one batch (a year), while we had originally hoped for a long-term partnership." In addition, to keep onion products feeling fresh in the consumer market, the association adjusts the packaging of its onion red wine -- which has been on the market for 6 or 7 years -- every 3 or 4 years, giving consumers a refreshing new impression. Through processing, they hope to keep polishing the Pingtung onion brand.