Indian processors sell dehydrated onion in six main forms: flakes, kibbled, chopped, minced, granules and powder. They run from the largest pieces to the finest, and all of them start as the same dried onion slices.
The onion is peeled, sliced, washed and dried on a belt dryer. The dried slices are the flake product. Everything smaller is made by breaking, milling and sieving those flakes into size bands.
The forms, from largest to smallest
- Flakes: the dried slices, broken into irregular pieces. Used where the onion should be seen, such as soups, pickles and ready meals.
- Kibbled: large broken pieces, often treated as a sized version of flakes. Common in dry soup mixes and meal kits.
- Chopped: smaller pieces of a more even size. Used in sauces, stuffings and seasonings where pieces should still be visible.
- Minced: small pieces, used in toppings, dressings, dips and seasoning blends.
- Granules: coarse, free-flowing particles a step up from powder. Used in seasonings, rubs and snack coatings.
- Powder: finely milled onion, used in spice blends, snack seasoning, soups, sauces and processed meat.
Names are not standard
The same word can mean different sizes at different plants. One supplier's kibbled is another's large chopped. Some use the word flakes for every piece above chopped size. Others offer extra cuts such as large chopped, small chopped or fine granules.
So do not order by name alone. Order by a size range in millimetres or mesh, with a limit on oversize and undersize. Standard particle sizes for each onion form gives typical ranges to start from.
What changes as the particle gets smaller
- Surface area grows, so smaller forms pick up moisture faster and can cake. Powder needs the best packing.
- Small forms hide colour defects better, so they often use lower colour grades of flake as their raw material.
- Finer forms rehydrate and release flavour faster in a recipe.
- Milling adds a processing step, which adds cost and another point where hygiene and foreign matter must be controlled.
Choosing a form
Start from your finished product. If your customer must see onion pieces, choose a cut and set a size range and a colour grade. If the onion disappears into a sauce or blend, granules or powder are usually cheaper per unit of flavour and easier to dose.
Also think about colour. White onion is the most common, but red and pink are made too, as covered in the difference between white, red and pink dehydrated onion. Then get samples of two or three neighbouring sizes and test them in your own recipe.
How Creston & Co handles this
We collect samples of each form you are considering from more than one Mahuva processor and label them with the supplier's own size range. Once you choose, we write the size, colour and microbiology limits into your spec. To begin, ask for a free sourcing review.