The Complete Handbook of Onions
A professional's field guide to selecting, storing, using, and profiting from Allium cepa
by Alumigogo Books
non-fiction
From cultivar to cold room to commodity trade: the complete technical and commercial reference for working with onions. No hype, just data.
About this book
Most professionals treat onions as a commodity that 'just works' - but the difference between a 40% storage loss and a 5% loss comes down to specific variables: the cultivar's natural dormancy, the curing temperature, the humidity setpoint, and the ethylene environment. This handbook gives you the underlying physiology and the practical rules of thumb, so you are not guessing when a supplier tells you their yellow globes will hold for eight months.
Inside, you will find a full breakdown of onion taxonomy and major market classes (yellow, red, white, sweet, and specialty storage types), how to read a USDA grade certificate or a packer's label, and a chapter-by-chapter troubleshooting guide for common failure modes like sprouting, rooting, and bacterial soft rot. The business section evaluates real ventures - from wholesale repacking and private-label pickled onions to consulting on controlled-atmosphere storage - and the final resources section points you to the handler agreements, federal marketing orders, and state produce associations that actually matter.
Whether you are a produce manager at a 200-store chain or a farmer looking to move into the value-added space, this is the only onion reference you will need on your shelf.
Reader Reviews
Kathleen Green
★★★★★It's a solid reference, but I came looking for actual purchasing data and found it a bit general. The storage biology chapter is genuinely useful (I fixed a humidity problem in our walk-in after reading it), and the troubleshooting flow is well done. What I wanted was more specific price index guidance and a deeper dive into the import/export side - the business section is fairly high-level. I'd still recommend it for a store manager, just not for someone doing serious wholesale trading.
Emily Torres
★★★★★I got this because we're starting a small CSA and I wanted to do better than just buying bushels of whatever the supplier has. Chapter 1 gives you a real mental model for why some onions last forever and others rot in a month. The glossary and FAQ are helpful to have on the phone. The only downside is that the book is extremely North America-centric - I'm in Europe and some of the grading references don't map cleanly. Still, the core science and storage logic apply anywhere.