Alastair Findlay, a previous Chairman and long time grower at Bedfordshire Growers visited USA in early 1990s on a trip hosted by a UK retailer looking specifically at the development of sweet onions, In the states approximately 20% of all onions sold are sweet. With key varieties such as Vidalia dominating the market, all varieties are technically brown.
Alastair is no ordinary onion grower, already having developed successful Brussel sprout varieties he was instrumental at Bedfordshire Growers in the first red onions arriving in the UK and has subsequently successfully bred conventional red varieties through his career, going on to Chair the British Onions Technical group.
On his return from the states he started a sweet breeding programme, looking not just for sweet but the first red sweet in the world. This actually started with the launch of a Pink Sweet in around 2014 and then the launch of the first red “Sweetheart” in 2016, it is important to remember that all of the breeding has Alistair’s original sweet parentage which he found by individually testing literally thousands of bulbs!!
"It is important to define sweetness in onions, every onion has natural sweetness, the pungency which is the natural defence mechanism hides the sweetness, so the lower the pungency technically more of the sweetness should come forward," explains Stephen Hedderly, managing Director of Bedfordshire Growers. "Lowering the pungency also makes the preparation and consumption a much more pleasant experience, this subsequently attracts buyers that avoid this vegetable because of these concerns. In America they developed the pyruvate scale which technically grades the pungency, 0 being no pungency – 10 being incredibly aggressive. This currently is a lab test rather than something that can be done in house."
Despite launching Sweetheart with a number of retailers in the UK and exporting to as far away as South Africa, Alastair the perfectionist that he is would not stand still and started another programme which has now delivered Calypso, which Bedfordshire growers launched earlier this year. As well as being grown in the UK and exported to Asia the company also has Calypso being grown in America, Spain, Holland and New Zealand.
"We remain keen to encourage other growers across Europe to join the venture, we appreciate that European retailers and food service manufacturers ideally want home grown produce.
"Calypso has outstanding flavour, full of sweetness, low pungency, but not losing the typical onion flavour, which is important because there is a fine balance between flavour and blandness. But Calypso has other attributes, it is a stunning red colour with splashes of sparkling pink which adds to its attractiveness, the internal colour is strong and it has thick cells which gives an amazing crunch texture when eaten.
"With most variety development led by multinational organisations, we are incredibly proud of Alastair’s one man voyage to change the taste of red onion flavours, and be the only British producer growing sweet onions commercially."
For more information:
Stephen Hedderly
Bedfordshire Growers
Tel: +44 1767 312403
Email: [email protected]
www.Bedgrow.co.uk