Slow growers that sweeten with age
Yasushi Wada
The Daily Yomiuri
Publication Date : 23-07-2008



Onions are believed to have been a significant source of nutrients for the laborers who built the Egyptian pyramids.

Since first arriving in Japan during the early Meiji era (1868-1912), onions have--in tandem with the spread of Western cuisine--become an essential part of the nation's food culture.

Hyogo Prefecture is the nation's third largest onion producer--following Hokkaido and Saga Prefecture--with 95 per cent of the prefecture's yield originating on Awajishima island.

Seeds are sown in October and grow into bulbs weighing about 300 grams after the winter.

Compared with the onions cultivated in Hokkaido, where seeds are sown in spring and harvested in autumn after four months of cultivation, it is said that Awajishima onions--which grow slowly over seven months and absorb nutrition from soil--are tastier.

Onions harvested in June are tied in a bundle and hung from dozens of wooden beams in purpose-built structures.

After drying for one to two months, the onions sweeten and become well preserved.

Awajishima onions are primarily shipped around the end of the rainy season through October, when Hokkaido onions arrive on the market.

In early June, six people could be seen harvesting onions from the field of Toshihiro Yasuda, 71, in the Jindai district of Minami-Awaji on the southern part of the island.

More than 150,000 onions were harvested at his 6,500-square-metre farm.

"In the past, onion cultivation was tough, as we had to cut the stems with a sickle, carry bundles of onions each weighing more than three kilograms and climb up and down a ladder to hang bundles," Yasuda said while taking a break from his busy work. "But, thanks to the farming machinery we now use for harvesting, old men like me can continue working."

The Shinjuku Nakamuraya restaurant in Shinjuku, Tokyo, which helped popularize curry dishes in Japan, buys onions directly from contract farmers in Awajishima and Kyoto's Tango area.

The restaurant uses one onion for each of its curry servings. Boxes of onions from Awajishima were delivered to the restaurant's kitchen in early July.

"Onions from Awajishima are flavorsome and sweet, and match Nakamuraya's curries," said Tsuyoshi Ishizaki, the restaurant's chief chef.

Onions produce a substance that can irritate the eyes when sliced. However, this substance is said to be good for fatigue, which may prove useful in combating the heat of summer.