<p style="text-indent:0px; line-height:12px;"><span style="font-weight:bold;line-height:130%">Cornell, NY</span><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">By ANUK Staff<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">5.1.13</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><img src="https://cdn.andnowuknow.com/legacyWriterImages/hl_cornell_university_onion_may_2013_BODY02.jpg" alt="Cropped Images May 1st 2013" />Researchers at Cornell have developed new mild onions that offer longer shelf life and a higher brix. They say it will be just a few years before the mild locally grown onions are available to the public; they’ve already been twelve years in development.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><img src="https://cdn.andnowuknow.com/legacyWriterImages/hl_cornell_university_onion_may_2013_BODY.jpg" alt="Cropped Images May 1st 2013" />“These onions have a longer shelf life and still produce huge flavors; I see them as being a consumer’s dream,” said Steve Miller, Cornell Dining senior executive chef, who with a Wegmans supermarket executive chef has tested about a dozen of the experimental onion hybrids.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Current mild onions are watery and soft due to low sugar content (called low brix), which leads to a short shelf life and makes them mushy when cooked. Longer-lasting onions are more pungent and higher in sugar, but reducing their bite requires more cooking, which also softens them, as reported by the Cornell Chronicle.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">The new Cornell onions “have the initial aroma and flavor of a mild onion, but they have a lot less water,” said Mike Washburn, executive chef at Wegmans. As result, they have a longer shelf life and stay crisper and intact when cooked in soup or chili or when grilled.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Martha Mutschler, professor of plant breeding and genetics, developed the mild onion lines and used the results of the chefs’ tests to inform selection of the three new hybrids of mild onions that were in expanded trials last year.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">“My goal was to develop a mild onion with higher brix, for better storability, and adapted to New York state long-day growing conditions,” Mutschler said. “Current mild onions are low in brix and bred for short- or intermediate-day growing conditions. For local growers, locally adapted high-quality mild onions would provide opportunities to diversify their product lines,” she said.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> “I think it’s certainly encouraging,” said Washburn. The new onion has the potential for being “a superior quality product but grown locally and sustainably, which is a key draw of [Wegmans’] customer base,” he added.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href=" http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2013/04/new-mild-onions-offer-great-taste-long-shelf-life " target="_new">Cornell Onion Update</a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
