Worldwide Onion Quality Concerns?

[ChrisTaylor]

In Australia I haven't noticed a decline in quality but the prices have shot up faster than those of any other fruit or vegetable (ignoring those temporarily impacted by floods/hurricanes/fires/et al). In the past couple of years the price per kilo for onions has damn near doubled in the major supermarkets.

Edited March 1, 2011 by ChrisTaylor (log)

[Kent Wang]

All the onions are perfectly normal here in Shanghai.

[mgaretz]

I'm in Northern Cal (east bay) and the onions have been terrible here too. The bagged ones are the worst but I still keep buying them because it's the only way I know to get small to medium onions. The loose onions in my local markets are all HUGE!

[ScottyBoy]

I second that here in Oakland, CA. Running into so many bad ones this year.

[Blether]

In Japan... my bit of it, anyway, for a while there (summer last year ?) there were more baddies than usual in several bags. But it's better again now.

Edited March 2, 2011 by Blether (log)

[paulpegg]

I have stopped buying bags of onions (and potatoes) long ago. Typically about a quarter of them are mushy or moldy. I only buy loose onions that I can give a close look at each one. i also carry a good pocket knife and will cut open a sample piece (especially fruits) to see if they are acceptable. I pay more but have less waste. If you go the the market early in the morning you may see the clerks tossing the stuff that has gone bad overnight. I often see them putting the new stuff under the old so it is a good idea to dig deep for the freshest produce.

All great tips, Paul. Do you cut into every onion you buy? That's been part of the problem for me: my otherwise trusty onion-quality senses, which have been just fine for a few decades, fail me now.

That would be a bad thing to do and I would probably become persona non grata very quickly. I pick one out that looks and feels good on the outside and cut into the sprout end. If it looks bad then many of them are all probably going to be bad and I move on. If it is good I will keep it and pick out more to fill my needs. Fruits are another thing altogether. Many times things like peaches look great but are bad at the pit or have absolutely no flavor. Again, I will cut one in half, taste it and decide if this is junk or not.

[OliverB]

funny, I thought I was just unlucky, but I also had to throw out more onions recently than any time I can remember. I'm also in the SF (far) east bay.

I don't buy bags very often, I pick the smaller ones at Safeway or the market, I really don't like the giant ones since it's usually more than one recipe calls for and the rest either gets tossed right away or a couple weeks later, when I find it again in the fridge

I've had some that looked all nice and felt firm, cut into them and they're mushy inside, or a layer somewhere in there is moldy (a whole layer, inside, how ever that happens is a mystery to me) and yes, lots of second brown skin too. I've started to buy white onions or shallots instead quite a bit actually.

[Catherine Iino]

Chris--

For years I've commented that the onions sold in RI supermarkets were much worse than those sold in Connecticut. I've always attributed it to the high humidity levels near the ocean, but I'm not sure how much sense the explanation makes, given large, air-conditioned stores.

That said, a year or two ago, the price of onions suddenly doubled or tripled overnight, and I think the quality did go down. A crop failure? Or are onions just being stored longer and more poorly before they get to us?

Edited March 4, 2011 by Catherine Iino (log)

[messyjessy]

Here in Indiana it's the same story that many are sharing here, white and yellow onions in particular seems to be mushy or moldy, if our stores have them in stock at all!

[Boilerfood]

Funny that you revive this thread, today I was putting away our delivery of onions for the week, and happened to notice that one was covered in mold. After looking a little closer, the whole bag was spoiled.

[torakris]

In Japan... my bit of it, anyway, for a while there (summer last year ?) there were more baddies than usual in several bags. But it's better again now.

I was having a similar experience, it's better now because I have been mostly buying local shin-tamanegi (new spring onions), but the price of regular onions has been quite high for some time now. I used to be able to buy a bag of 3 to 4 onions for 99 yen ($1.20) but now it is double that and they never go on sale any more.