Red Onion Granules

Description

Granulated red onion is the last graded cut before powder, screened to a 0.5-1 mm band roughly equivalent to 16-40 mesh. It occupies a deliberate middle ground: fine enough to disperse and rehydrate rapidly, but still coarse enough to remain free-flowing and to avoid the dusting, bridging and caking problems that make true powder harder to handle in dry-blend plants. That handling advantage is the main reason seasoning houses specify granules over powder even when particle visibility is not required. Production follows the standard route of grading, peeling, washing, slicing, hot-air drying and cooling, after which the dried onion is milled and tightly screened, then colour sortexed and passed through magnetic sticks and metal detectors. Like minced, granules are held to a 5% maximum moisture ceiling rather than the 6% allowed on coarse cuts, because the high surface area makes them more prone to moisture pick-up and clumping. Buyers are dry seasoning and spice blenders, snack and crisp seasoning manufacturers, dry rub and marinade producers, instant soup and noodle packers, bakery and savoury biscuit makers, and meat processors. Red is selected over white where a bolder, sweeter and more pungent onion note is wanted and where the formulator accepts that red pigment will carry visibly into a pale base.