United Kingdom
You’ll not believe your eyes. An onion that doesn’t make you cry
The humble onion – the staple of many recipes, adding taste and texture from everything from soups to salads and everything in between. But for too long chefs, cooks and other people involved in food preparation have been brought to tears while working with onions.
Many people have tried to understand how to stop crying when cutting onions by freezing the onion, soaking it in water, cutting in a certain way, using a spoon, the list is endless but unfortunately, they still make you cry. All that has now changed thanks to BASF developing Sunions® – a great tasting, sweet and tearless onion which took over 25 years of R&D to develop an industry first brown, tearless and sweet onion variety.
Launched in the USA around 4 years ago, the Sunions brand has been growing and expanding its distribution network ever since. In 2020 the concept was picked up and brough to Spain where it has now attracted 10 retailers for this growing season, with more to come.
Answering the call to develop vegetables people love, Sunions deliver on the Vegetable Seeds promise to make healthy eating enjoyable and sustainable- and after undergoing consumer tests and research in the UK with The Leatherhead Institute (recognized as a leader by all retailers), the product has come out as a clear winner – best tasting, sweet and tearless onion. Because of this overwhelmingly positive consumer feedback and Sunion being a truly innovative product within the onion category, Sunions is seen as a genuine game changer attracting the attention of the premium food retailer Waitrose in the UK. Sunions will be quality assured, tested and tested again making it a consistently sweet, tearless, and crunchy onion before reaching Waitrose shoppers this winter and the upcoming spring season.
Paul Bidwell, Onion Buyer at Waitrose comments:
“We understand how a-peeling tearless onions are to our customers which is why we’re delighted to launch Sunions® in selected stores and via Waitrose.com earlier this month. Ideal for taking the tears out of the kitchen, the sweetness of this type of onion lends itself perfectly to a variety of dishes, from salads to hot meals.”
Once you try Sunions you will not want to purchase regular brown onions again due to it being tearless but also sweet and flavorsome ideal to consume raw in a salad. Watch out for marketing materials - both online and offline – with a launch in February’s edition of the Waitrose magazine. Feedback on www.sunions.co.uk your thoughts and opinions.
Our goal is to create a significant and sustainable market for tearless onions with the plan to grow the Sunions brand over the next 2 years making it accessible to more UK consumers.
About SUNIONS®
SUNIONS® is a consumer brand for tearless onions. This outstanding product comes from the BASF innovation program and is launched in collaboration with partners in the value chain. The use of the brand name is part of the corporation agreement. In the collaboration, BASF provides the seeds, growing recommendations, quality assurance and connects chain partners from ‘farm to fork’
If you’d like to find out more about our collaboration, or maybe even team up and join the movement for a better tomorrow, contact us today.