Organic Onion Flakes Standard Jar- 20g - Steenbergs details and description

Steenbergs Organic Kibbled Onion Pieces are a really convenient way of using organic onions. Organic dehydrated onion pieces  - or organic kibbled onion - have little aroma but rehydrate easily when cooked to infuse your food with the classic warm and sharp tastes typical of onion, but these kibbled onion pieces also have a lovely sweetness that you do not usually get from fresh onions.

Organic kibbled onion comes from dried common onion, Allium cepa, which is the major group of onion cultivars.  Onions are hardy, biennial herbaceous plants, with an edible bulb and are related garlic and leek plants.  Onion flower stalks grow to 0.75-1.8 metres in height (2.5-6ft) and terminate in a cluster of small greenish-white flowers.  The onion leaves are green and the leaf bases swell to form an underground bulb which mature into the edible bulb.  Commercial onions are grown from the small black onion seeds, but most amateur gardeners grow onions from sets, which are part-grown onions that have been started from seed earlier in the year, so all that is required is to finish off the growing process.  Onions grow in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and colours from flattish brown to round pale bulbs, while most onions come in three colours - yellow, red or white.  Steenbergs kibbled onions come from yellow onions, which comprise around 85% of onions grown in the UK.  While there is much variety, all onions have a similar structure, with a papery outer skin and protecting inner layers of pale, crisp flesh.  Onions have an acrid yet sweet, pungent and sulphur-rich flavour (sometimes verging on the burnt rubber), but which can have notes of fruity apple-like notes, which complements almost all savoury foods, but dried does loose some of the fresh bite of onion and increase its sweetness.  For further background on onions, try The National Onion Association of the USA or Wikipedia and for more on growing onions try the BBC.

Onions have an extremely wide use and are found in many savoury dishes, complementing tomatoes and potatoes really well, while meats like beef, chicken, lamb and pork love the flavours of onions.  Onions add flavour as well as reducing the richness from the fats and oils in the meats.  Unlike many vegetables that store their energy as starch, onions store their energy in long chains of fructose, so when the pungent fresh onions are cooked slowly these break down into a distinctly sweet flavour as well as a deliciously rich and umami-like meaty flavour profile that helps its partnership with meats.  It is also because of the drying process that dried onion appears sweeter than fresh onion.  For ideas on cooking with onions, try the BBC website or the Steenbergs Recipe section. 

Steenbergs organic kibbled onion pieces of the Steenbergs UK range of over 400 organic herbs, spices, peppers, curry mixes and blends. For information on Steenbergs stockists (including becoming one) or call us on 01765 640 088 or email enquiries@steenbergs.co.uk.

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