A Food Science lecturer at Lupane State University (LSU) has ventured into the tinned onion business.
Mr Makhosi Mahlangu (38) started his project as a way to assist a student whose mother was failing to pay fees due to an unfortunate event that led to low onion sales.
Mahlangu purchased the excess onions from her, marking his first tinned onion product which he produced under the Lupane Veggie Guys Company, which he is part of. He told The Sunday News:
There was a student who is from St Paul’s in Lupane and has parents who planted a lot of onions whose proceeds were meant to help pay her school fees. They produced excess onions and it so happened that there was an oversupply of onions on the market. As a lecturer involved in food developing programmes, I realised that I had to play a role in helping this family. I am also part of the Lupane Veggie Guys and as a team, we decided to make a product of value from my initiative.
We procured 2X50kg of onions which managed to give us 80 bottles which were sold at US$1.50 each. Before that I had ordered four bunches of onions from the university farm. We did market research at the university where we did a sensory evaluation. The 80 bottles sold out in less than two days.
Mahlangu said his recipe encompassed indigenous herbs found in Lupane that made the onion taste immensely good.
He said the idea is to develop the herbs and make raw onion eating a delicacy for many.
The ingredients also combine to create their own natural preservatives. These are:
i). onions,
ii). salt,
iii). water,
iv). vinegar and
v). indigenous herbs.
80 grammes serving of raw onion provides 0.8g of protein, 6.4g of carbohydrates, 5.0g of sugars, 1.8 fire and 2.0 mg of Vitamin C.
Mahlangu said they used hibiscus sabdariffa, sandambe in Ndebele, which is found in the Lupane District and used as a tomato.