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Food Safety Blog Recipes

Category: Retail

Fighting Food Deserts with Value-Added Produce

Posted on by Foodmix Marketing

The world population is projected to reach 10 billion by 2050. That’s a lot of hungry people to feed. And today, we aren’t succeeding. An estimated 815 million people around the globe are suffering from hunger. In order to feed the world’s growing population, agricultural production will need to increase by 60% over the next 30 years. 

But having food available isn’t enough. We need to be able to get that fresh produce to the people who need it. Currently, about 23.5 million Americans live in food deserts – locations where access to affordable, healthy food is difficult because grocery stores are too far away. Nearly half of those people are also low-income, and scarcity of product drives up the price. 

How do we end food deserts and feed our nation? Value-added products are an essential part of the strategy.

What Is a Food Desert?

Food deserts can sound like an unbelievable thing. How is it possible that in a modern world with so many items at our fingertips, families don’t have access to fresh, healthy foods? It’s a more common problem than you think. For example, 2.3 million people in the US live in rural areas that are more than 10 miles from a grocery store. 

Urban areas aren’t exempt, either. Grocery chains typically don’t build stores in poor neighborhoods, and lower income households are less likely to own cars. Lack of transportation makes shopping more than a few blocks away nearly impossible, so families make do with what’s easily accessed — corner stores that sell processed items and fast food restaurants.

Without easy access to fresh foods, people are more likely to make unhealthy choices and eat an unbalanced diet. This leads to health problems like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. In Chicago, the death rate from diabetes in a food desert is twice as high as areas with easy access to larger stores with affordable produce.

Value-Added Produce Can Make Real Change

Value-added products are just that – products that add value beyond traditional options. In the world of fresh produce, value-added products are designed to save consumers time, make foods more readily available, and be attractive to retailers with easy store packaging. 

For example, a gas station or corner store may not have the facilities or floor space to stock and sell individual or bulk apples, but pre-sliced apples in individual bags and containers can be a more efficient option. The apples haven’t lost any of their nutritional value by being pre-sliced and packaged, but they are easier for the retailer to sell and easier for buyers to consume. Busy people don’t have to stop to slice and prep their apples. Instead, they grab and go. 

Gills Onions: Experts at Value-Added

At Gills Onions, we are proud to contribute these value-added products to the marketplace:

  • Diced Yellow Onions
  • Diced Red Onions
  • Diced Celery and Onions
  • Diced Mirepoix (a mix of onions, carrots, and celery)
  • Diced Pickled Onions

We pack our retail products in 8 to 10  oz., BPA-free, recyclable clear cups with reusable lids. Our packaging locks in freshness and is easy for retailers to store and display. It’s also easy for buyers to transport to their homes. 

When you’re ready to prepare your meal, there’s no need to wash and chop vegetables. Instead, fresh, healthy food is at your fingertips. We currently serve retail grocers throughout the state of California. As we extend our reach nationwide, we hope to share our best-in-the-industry produce with more and more people, working to eliminate food deserts and bring fresh vegetables to every table.

Ready to try onions the Gills Way? For more information, contact our sales department. 

From Our Fields to Your Kitchen: Gills Onions Retail Products

Posted on by Foodmix Marketing

There’s nothing better than a freshly diced onion, but actually peeling and chopping the onion can be one of the worst jobs in the kitchen. 

At Gills Onions, we know this fact isn’t just true in commercial kitchens. The average American consumes over 20 pounds of onions each year. That’s a lot of chopping and a lot of tears. But it doesn’t have to be that way. 

With our retail line-up of fresh cut onions, we’re bringing the delicious flavor of the world’s best onions to your kitchen. Say goodbye to tears and hello to the best onions you’ve ever had. 

Our Onions, Your Grocery Store

We pack our retail products in 6 oz., BPA-free, recyclable clear cups with reusable lids. A breathable under-lid film seals in that sweet onion aroma and locks in freshness. 

Customers crave convenience as much as they crave flavor. This packaging makes it easy to store fresh onions in your fridge, use what you need, and reseal the container until the next time. 

Currently, we process and package:

  • Diced Yellow Onions – Use to spice up any recipe that calls for chopped or diced onions. 
  • Diced Red Onions – Add something extra to soups, chilis, and sauces, or use as a colorful condiment. 
  • Diced Celery and Onions – The perfect blend for potato salads, tuna salads, and holiday stuffings and casseroles. 
  • Diced Mirepoix – An aromatic mix of onions, carrots, and celery. Add to sauces, braised meats, and marinades. 

You’ll find our products in the value-added section of retail grocers throughout California. 

Quality, Convenience, and Flavor

Our retail line-up comes 100% washed and ready-to-use with an 18-day shelf life – the longest shelf life of any fresh cut onion. All our products are kosher-certified, gluten-free, and non-GMO verified. 

Gills Onions is the only vertically integrated grower, processor, and shipper in the U.S. That means we grow, cut, and ship every onion that arrives in your kitchen, allowing us to maintain the highest quality standards. Our onions are grown “The Gill Way.” We are dedicated to innovative and sustainable agricultural practices, which create better tasting onions and better fields for future generations. 

Growing Our Retail Options

Our retail product line is growing! There are exciting new products on the horizon, like diced pickled onions – a tangy complement to grilled meats, dips, deviled eggs, potato salad, and more. 

We’re also working on partnerships with major retailers that would allow us to make our delicious fresh cut onions available in grocery stores across the United States. We can’t wait for you to taste the difference – and enjoy the convenience – of onions grown “The Gill Way.” 

If you’re still chopping onions, it’s a crying shame. Contact our sales department to learn more about how we can save you time and money.

Calculate Your Onion Savings

Posted on by Foodmix Marketing

When it comes to food preparation, we understand the power of saving chefs time and money. That’s why Gills Onions prides itself on being a value-add product. Our whole-peeled and sliced onions not only taste the best in the industry, but they also shine in the back end of the kitchen as an efficiency star, saving you time, labor and money.

To illustrate how beneficial our onions can be, we love to use the Gills Onions Product Calculator. Learn more about this fantastic tool on our website, and how you – the chef or operator – can calculate your potential annual savings by using Gills Onions.

Use Our Online Savings Calculator For Free

The onion product calculator is simple to use and free to try – so what’s stopping you? We’ll break it down a little to further explain how it works.

  1. First, choose the product you’re measuring. 
  2. Next, select the base cost you would typically pay for this item. 
  3. Third, input the time it typically takes for you to prepare this item. 
  4. The last variable is the hourly wage of whoever prepares the onions, which will vary by region. 

After inputting all of this information, the calculator will automatically populate the fields below.

  • Gross Weight
  • Gross Cost (per lb)
  • Trim Loss
  • Net Usable Weight
  • Net Cost (per lb)
  • Direct Labor Cost (per case)
  • Indirect Labor Cost (per case)
  • True Cost (per case)
  • True Cost (per lb)

Based on these figures, you’ll be able to see just how much the time and money that goes toward preparing your own onions can impact your overall costs—and we’re confident you’ll be pleased with the savings. “I’d say 90% of the time, we beat the price of preparing the product on your own,” said Owner/CEO Steve Gill.

100% Useable Product

One of the reasons Gills Onions saves people so much time and money is that we ship a 100% usable product. This means that with Gills, there is no waste – every last bit of the onions you receive can be incorporated into the kitchen.

“We do have 100% usable product,” said Steve. “Others don’t know what percentage yield they get, and with all the waste that comes with peeling an onion, it makes a lot of sense to buy from somebody like ourselves.”

Eliminate Hidden Labor Costs & Cut Down on Injuries 

One of the key takeaways from the product calculator is the indirect labor costs that come with onion preparation. Time spent cleaning up whisps of onion scales, taking out the trash more often, and taking a moment in the walk-in freezer to let your eyes stop watering all add up! “Onions are the most powerful vegetable in the world,” said Steve. “They make you cry!”

Steve elaborated on this point further, saying, “Usually, the people who are peeling onions feel like they’re being punished. It’s not a glamorous job.”

Our whole peel program enables chefs to get rid of these hidden labor costs, as well as reduce injuries in the kitchen. Gills Onions save you and your staff the headache of peeling, cleanup, waste disposal, and slicing injuries that come with preparing onions on-site.

How Your Team Can Use This Tool Out In The Field

For our operators, the product calculator is also a great tool to use out in the field. When your clients want to talk onions, you can be prepared to show them potential savings instantly. “I always say, get people to look at their savings in a calendar year,” said Megan Jacobsen, Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “Commodity prices on sack onions fluctuate throughout the year, but our whole-peeled onions offer a consistent yield, consistent price, and consistent quality, every single time.”

Try out the product savings calculator today, and start your whole peel journey with Gills.

Ready to try onions grown “The Gill Way?” Contact the Gills Onions sales department to learn more.

The Art (and Science) of Caramelizing Onions

Posted on by Foodmix Marketing

A celebrity chef recently told us, “Every great meal starts with onions, garlic, and olive oil in a pan.” At Gills Onions, we couldn’t agree more. Onions are the foundation of adding great flavor to any dish. 

Specifically, chefs love caramelized onions, because they’re a delicious and simple way to elevate a recipe and add that special touch. 

Caramelized Onions Are Trending 

If you take a look at current foodservice trends, you’ll see that plant-based dishes and bursting flavors are stealing the show across the board. Caramelized onions could be the poster child for both these movements. 

When you think of sweet foods, onions may not be the first product that comes to mind. But compared to most vegetables, onions are naturally sweet. The caramelization process takes advantage of those natural sugars to create intense and unforgettable flavors. These onions can then be used in a recipe in a variety of ways – always providing a complex sweet, savory, rich base for your dish. 

Gills Onions Make the Best Caramelized Onions

At its heart, onion caramelization is a slow, delicate process. You can’t rush it. It’s an art and a science. 

You start by sweating onions over medium-low heat, adding small amounts of water anytime the onions start to look dry or begin to brown very quickly. The water moistens the onions and helps dissolve sugars to prevent burning. When the onions begin to brown, lower the heat and stir periodically. A finished batch of caramelized onions should be a rich brown color, greatly reduced in size from the beginning of the process, and soft (but not mushy). The carmelized onion process can typically take from 45 to 60 minutes. 

The success of the onion caramelization process depends heavily on the quality of onions that you use. Every time a chef cooks with Gills Onions, they can’t stop raving about how different an experience they had compared to  cooking with bulk sack onions. That difference is because of our unique growing process and prescription for onions that taste better and stay fresh longer. 

Chefs need water to caramelize onions. It prevents the sugars from burning. But, too much water can also spell disaster in the form of mush. When onions have too much moisture it means one thing: they’ve already started to go bad. 

Gills Onions are naturally drier than other onions in the marketplace. That’s why they have a guaranteed shelf life of 18 days. The fresher the onions, the better the caramelized batch. 

Get Started with These Caramelized Onion Recipes 

There are so many ways to use caramelized onions, and they all taste amazing! Here are a few of our favorites to get you started. 

Ready to try onions the Gills Way? For more information, contact the Gills Onions sales department. 

Restaurant Feature: Tacos La Bonita

Posted on by Foodmix Marketing

“No onions, no tacos!” says Maria Agraz, co-owner of Tacos La Bonita in Ventura County, California. At Gills Onions, we work with some of the best restaurants in the business, and Tacos La Bonita, right here in our hometown of Oxnard, California, is an excellent example.

Meet the Dynamic Duo Behind Tacos La Bonita: Maria and Jessica

Tacos La Bonita has been feeding Oxnard for over eight years. Owners Jessica Ochoa and Maria Agraz are a taco dream team. Jessica is the genius behind the flavors, and Maria is the welcoming heart and soul of restaurant. 

The duo initially began as a local catering business, and the food was so popular their customers were practically begging for a place to get more. Jessica and Maria opened their first food truck three years later and added another truck a year after that. Today, they have a fleet of five food trucks – four here in Oxnard and one in Las Vegas – and a brick and mortar restaurant.

You Can’t Have Tacos Without Onions

Tacos La Bonita became a Gills Onions customer shortly after the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020. It was difficult for everyone to get the food and supplies they needed during the start of the pandemic, and restaurant owners were no exception. Jessica and Maria were having a hard time getting onion deliveries from their regular supplier and would often have to go without. 

Maria recalls one occasion when a customer called to complain that his tacos didn’t have cilantro or onions. He reminded them that a taco without onions is not a taco. 

Maria knew that, “A good taco needs tortillas, meat, onions, cilantro, and a great salsa — and that also needs onions!”

So, they approached our team at Gills Onions, right there in their hometown.

A Partnership Made in Taco Heaven

Our partnership with Tacos La Bonita ended up being a partnership made in taco heaven. Not only were we able to provide their kitchen with a steady supply of high-quality onions in a challenging time of supply and demand, but the onions also allowed them to increase their speed and output. Gone are the days of having to peel and dice their own onions by hand, a process that significantly slows down production time and increases the risk of kitchen accidents. 

On average, it takes 90 minutes to whole peel and dice a 50 lb sack of onions, and all that knife work is the reason why cuts, lacerations, and punctures are the number one most common injury in commercial kitchens. Value-added diced onions eliminate these problems, and our Gills Diced Onions are always recipe ready.

Today, Tacos La Bonita’s team is working smarter and safer and getting customers their food faster. 

“When I see Gills Onions in stores and in our kitchen I am filled with pride,” Maria says. “We always get our onions on time, and Gills customer service is amazing.” That reliability in quality and service is essential because as we now know, “No onions, no tacos!”

You can find Tacos La Bonita on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, or visit their four food trucks and mini restaurant here in Oxnard, CA, as well as their newest food truck in Las Vegas. 

Ready to speed up the day-to-day work in your kitchen and level up your food the “Gills Way?” Contact our sales department to learn more.

Our Favorite Onion Recipes for Soup Season

Posted on by Foodmix Marketing

Soup season is here, and we are here for it! There is nothing quite like soup to warm your soul and fill your stomach on a chilly day. Soup has been part of mankind’s diet for centuries. In fact, historians believe that the first bowl of soup was cooked up sometime around 20,000 BC using clay pots or bowls made of mud. 

Soup recipes have come a long way from those simple broths. The modern foodie can enjoy soups from every culture and region of the world, each with unique ingredients, spices, and aromas. We’re here to highlight our favorite soup component and offer a few pro-tips for making perfect soups this season. You guessed it: We’re talking about onions. 

Transform Your Soups with Onions

Onions make an excellent soup ingredient because they are so versatile. Depending on their preparation, they can offer distinctive flavor profiles and take a soup from good to great. Onions offer a complex umami – or savory – taste that can boost up meat-based stocks like chicken or beef or contribute needed depth to a vegetable stock. 

Using onions in soup is also an easy way to add moisture to the mixture without adding additional liquids like water that could dilute flavors and spices. 

Let’s not forget the health benefits of using onions in your recipes, too. Onions are jam-packed with essential nutrients like fiber, vitamin C, folic acid, antioxidants, and potassium. Regularly including onions in your diet has been proven to improve heart health, better control blood sugar, and even increase bone density. All that to say, an apple a day may be good, but an onion a day may be better. No offense to the apples. 

As an added bonus, onions are inexpensive and long-lasting — especially if you are using a Gills Onion. Our value-added onions have the longest shelf life in the industry, staying fresh and ready to use for at least 18 days. And, from soil to seed to storage, our onions are carefully cultivated to deliver the best taste and virtually no odor. 

Prepping Your Onions for Flavorful Soups

Onions are part of the triad of vegetables that make Mirepoix: onions, carrots, and celery. Mirepoix is the base for thousands of delicious recipes including many soups. And, even on its own, onion is a common soup component around the world. You can use onion in your own soup-making in a variety of ways: 

  • Sauté. Cook onions and a small amount of your favorite cooking oil over high heat. The goal is to cook, stirring occasionally, until your onions are golden brown. This is a great first step to making a roux or soup base. 
  • Sweat. Sweating an onion is similar to sauteing, except you’ll cook the onion by itself over low heat until the onions become soft and clear. You don’t want to brown them, just soften the texture and release those sweet flavors. 
  • Caramelize. The caramelization process is slow and sensitive, but it produces the deepest, sweetest onion flavor. You’ll sweat your onions over medium-low heat and add a little bit of water anytime they start to brown quickly or look dry. Adding the water keeps the natural sugars in the onion from burning. Once browning begins, turn your heat to low and keep stirring every few minutes. The longer your onions cook, the sweeter they will be. 
  • Fresh cut. Fresh cut onions are great as a topper on soups and chilis. They bring a stronger, sharper flavor than the sweet flavors of sauteed, sweated, or caramelized onions, but they lift recipes with their clean taste and crisp texture. 

Get Started with These Recipes

Ready to elevate your soup season with onions? You can’t go wrong with some of our favorite recipes. 

And, if you have your own favorites to share, tag us on social media @gillsonions, and check out our other onion-loving social content at the links below:

Instagram 

TikTok 

Facebook

LinkedIn

Ready to try onions the Gills Way? For more information, contact our sales department.

2023 Food Trends to Watch for // December Innovation Lab

Posted on by Foodmix Marketing

This past December, Gills Onions invited four amazing chefs to craft innovative recipes inspired by Flavor & The Menu’s upcoming food trends for 2023. Each expert culinarian was tasked with creating different recipes based on flavor trends while using a very special ingredient – Gills onions! The results were nothing short of magical, and we can’t wait to feature these recipes more throughout the year.


All About Flavor (& The Menu)
Flavor & The Menu’s (FTM) trend forecasting has been a staple in the restaurant industry for nearly 20 years. We love working with these experts (along with FoodMix Marketing Communications) in our Innovation Labs to inspire chefs from all over the world. Every year FTM looks at menu development through the lens of flavor, and the trend list for 2023 is bursting with it.


The Chefs Behind The Magic
We couldn’t have asked for a more fitting group of chefs for this experience. Each of them is wildly talented and went above and beyond in their flavor creations. Meet the chefs who joined our Innovation Lab, and take a look at a few of their standout recipes:


Steven Agosto
Steven is the Executive Chef for Morongo Casino Resort and Spa in Cabazon, California. As a New York native, Steven has been inspired by flavors from various cultures including Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Ireland.

Make It Stick
One of the phenomenal recipes Steven created with us was Miso Seabass Anticuchos. This Andes-inspired dish drew from the “Make it Stick” trend and featured delicious sliced onions and Japanese miso paste – all served on a bed of corn and edamame.

Miso Seabass Anticuchos


Amanda Jackson
This Georgia native has been featured on Food52, Popsugar, and Netflix’s “Cooked With Cannabis,” and is the co-owner of School of Fish Taco Truck. Amanda loves experimenting with a variety of flavors, alongside her specialty – Rural Black American cooking.


The Dark Side of Butter
Amanda’s Brown Butter and Caramelized Onion Mac and Cheese was inspired by one of our favorite FTM flavor trends: The Dark Side of Butter. As FTM notes, brown butter lends a “roasted flavor, toasty aroma, silky mouthfeel, and deep complexity” to its dishes, which is why it’s a top food trend for the year.

Brown Butter and Caramelized Onion Mac and Cheese


Melissa Chickerneo
As Executive Chef for BTS Catering and Events, Melissa is passionate about bringing creative elements into her recipe development. She has prepared meals for astronauts, US Presidents, celebrities, and for several Olympic Games.


Mustard’s Moment
One of Melissa’s innovative recipes that we loved was her Caramelized Onion and Whole-Grain Mustard Compound Butter. Melissa paired this decadent butter with a mouthwatering steak, inspired by the FTM trend: Mustard’s Moment.

Caramelized Onion and Whole-Grain Mustard Compound Butter


Gary Nguyen
Gary grew up in LA and loves traveling all over the world to receive inspiration for his culinary creations. As a private chef, Gary elevates dining experiences to a new level every time by playing with color, plating, flavor, and presentation.


Cider Culture
Gary shone with his take on Pancetta Sweet Potato Hash for the FTM trend category: Cider Culture. This sweet and salty pub-style breakfast featured red onion, tomato, avocado, red cabbage, sweet potato, and pancetta – all topped with a deliciously runny fried egg.

Red onion, tomato, avocado, red cabbage, sweet potato, and pancetta


Other Food Trends We Love for 2023
Along with the four mentioned above, our guest chefs incorporated Gills Onions into a few other FTM 2023 trends during this innovation lab:


True Colors
FTM predicts even more color at the table in 2023, as chefs continue to be inspired by the natural vibrant hues in their repertoire. Ingredients like beets, ube, butterfly pea flower, turmeric, and lavender, will all lend unique pigments to the palate this year.


Asian Breakfast Wakes Up
Skipping breakfast is OUT in 2023, and Asian breakfast is IN! From fried rice bowls to steak and eggs, chefs are breaking out their Asian-inspired recipes bright and early this year. Other ingredients like matcha, red bean, soy sauce, and kimchi are all making their way to the breakfast table as well.


Time for Thai
Thai-fusion cuisine will be showing up all over the map in 2023 as chefs use this flavor category in unique ways. Classic East Asian features like rice noodles, shrimp crackers, tom yum soup, and Thai iced tea combine with Tex-Mex, French cuisine, American dessert, and even cocktails.


Our Commitment to Flavor
At Gills, our commitment to flavor is rooted in a deep love for quality, food service, and farm-fresh ingredients. Whether these chefs were making a cucumber salad or a bahn mi sandwich, Gills Onions played a crucial role in bringing all of these recipes to life. We love working with industry experts in settings like these, and hope to keep inspiring chefs to work their magic — from the back of the kitchen to plated perfection.

Ready to try onions the Gills Way? For more information, contact our sales department.

5 Tips for Getting Children Excited About Veggies

Posted on by Foodmix Marketing

Though their bodies may be small, it’s no secret that children come with large personalities and big opinions. Those opinions can be especially strong when it comes to vegetables. Some kids can’t get enough, and others can’t get far enough away.

So, how do you help growing children not just eat but also enjoy their vegetables? There’s no secret formula, and at the end of the day, kids will be kids. But, there are things you can do to help children add healthy veggies to their diet, grow an appreciation for where their food comes from, and become more willing to try new foods each day.

(As always, we highly recommend onions.)

Learn Where Vegetables Come From

You can spark a child’s interest in vegetables by exploring how those beautiful veggies got onto their plate in the first place. Though you may have bought your produce at the grocery store, that isn’t where it came from. Here are a few ideas:

  • Visit a local farmer, and tour their fields
  • Take a trip to your nearest farmer’s market and chat with the sellers about how they grow their produce
  • Plant a garden with your children. Eating something you have grown together makes the food more exciting.
  • Don’t have room for a garden? Try growing herbs or a small vegetable plant in a window sill or planter box.

Make New Foods Fun

Children love routines, so trying new things can feel daunting and even a bit scary. Make trying new foods an exciting, fun and low-pressure experience. Consider using a few of these strategies:

  • Each time you go to the store, let your child pick one new vegetable to investigate. Plan several ways to prepare it.
  • Select a “new food of the week” that the whole family tries each day.
  • Conduct fun science experiments with healthy foods along with eating them. 
  • Make a “rainbow meal” using vegetables in every color of the rainbow.
  • Explore which vegetables can be delicious additions to smoothies, jellos, jellies, and more.

Delight Them with Dips

A dip can be a great way to encourage snacking on vegetables. Kids love to dip things in sauces, and the flavors of a dip can hide or mellow out the unfamiliar flavors in a new veggie. But, encourage your child to try a variety of dips and sauces. Ranch addiction is real, especially in young people. Introduce other low fat dressings, homemade vinaigrettes, and fun sauces like melted cheese fondue.

Prepare Things Together

There is more than one way to eat a vegetable. Make it a game to see how many different preparations for a veggie you can come up with, and then cook, roast, grill, puree, and chop together with your children. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

  • Use vegetables to make your own stock for soup.
  • Substitute vegetables like zucchini for noodles in pasta or lasagna dishes.
  • Finely chop vegetables to add to breads and pizza crusts.
  • Blend veggies into a smoothie, or juice them in a juicer.
  • Cook up a vegetable omelette.
  • Get creative with your favorite casserole.
  • Experiment with savory oatmeal.

Include Children in Meal Planning

The most important part of teaching children to love vegetables is letting them choose whether or not they will. Create a safe place for children to like what they like and dislike what they dislike. By making it ok not to like something when they try it, your kids will be more likely to keep on trying. If they try, they are bound to find something they enjoy.

Remember, children’s palates are still developing. Try mild flavors like carrots, tomatoes, and lettuce for younger eaters and slowly work your way up to stronger flavors. Include children in your meal planning, and respect their feedback.

Ready to try onions grown “The Gills Way”? Contact our sales department to learn more. 

Get Ready to Fall in Love with Mirepoix

Posted on by Foodmix Marketing

Our Gills Onions retail products are designed to save you time and work in the kitchen. That’s why we are so excited to announce a new addition to our product line: Mirepoix. 

Mirepoix is an aromatic mix of onions, carrots, and celery. Any great chef knows that Mirepoix is the base for hundreds of delicious recipes, and now home chefs like you can reap the benefits, too, without all the prep work. 

How Do I Use Mirepoix?

Mirepoix is one of the most versatile and essential vegetable blends. It’s a third onion, a third celery, and a third carrot. It can be added to or serve as a base for sauces, soups, and marinades. It makes a killer roux. It can accompany braised meats. You can toss it in a slow cooker or pressure cooker for added flavor to just about anything you’re whipping up. Oh, and it’s really tasty in casseroles.

So, why don’t more people use Mirepoix in their everyday cooking? Because it is a pain to prepare. That barrier goes away with our pre-diced, pre-mixed Mirepoix blend. 

Here are a few fun recipes that call for Mirepoix to get your creative juices flowing: 

Less Chopping, More Enjoying

During the pandemic, so many people found their passion for cooking delicious meals at home. The only thing that makes fresh, home cooked food even better is when your vegetables are prepped and ready to go. Spend less time chopping, dicing, and slicing and more time enjoying food with the ones you love. 

Oh, and don’t forget that eliminating the need to chop up all those vegetables also eliminates the chance of knife injuries in your kitchen. Definitely an added bonus.

Find Gills Onions Products in Your Local Store

While you’re grabbing some delicious Mirepoix off the shelf, check out our other fabulous retail products (all now with new resealable film!): 

  • Diced Yellow Onions – Use to spice up any recipe that calls for chopped or diced onions. 
  • Diced Red Onions – Add something extra to soups, chilis, and sauces, or use as a colorful condiment. 
  • Diced Celery and Onions – The perfect blend for potato salads, tuna salads, and holiday stuffings and casseroles. 
  • Diced Pickled Onions — A tasty, tangy addition to salads, burgers, sandwiches, and cooked dishes. 

So, get out there, and take our new Mirepoix (and maybe a few more tasty pre-prepped products from above) for a test drive. We can’t wait to hear what you think!

Ready to try onions grown “The Gills Way”? Contact our sales department to learn more.

Why Does Cutting Onions Make You Cry?

Posted on by Foodmix Marketing

Who hasn’t been brought to tears by onions? We certainly have — but that’s because we love them so darn much. For many other people, it’s because they decided to cut one open. And, for just as many people, the reason why cutting into that sweet, sweet onion sets the waterworks flowing is a mystery. 

Let us solve it for you. 

It’s Not an Emotional Reaction — It’s a Chemical One

Let’s start by reviewing a little onion anatomy. At the end of the day (and at the beginning as well…and really through the entire day, actually) an onion is a bulb. It grows under the ground. You know what else hangs out under the ground? Little critters who love to nibble on bulbs, like voles, moles, and groundhogs, oh my!

So, onions have a defense mechanism to protect them from all those unwanted nibbles. Enter chemical reactions. 

When the skin of an onion breaks, whether from a nibble or your favorite kitchen knife, it begins to release a combination of enzymes and sulfenic acid. When these two compounds come together, they create an extremely irritating gas called propanethial S-oxide. When this gas is released, it evaporates quickly and finds its way to — you guessed it — your eyes. When it hits the water that covers the surface of your eyes, it turns into sulfuric acid.

Now, here’s the thing. Just like the onions have a defense mechanism to keep them safe, so do your eyes. When the nerves in your eyes detect the sulfuric acid, they know they need to flush it out. Cue the tears. 

So, What’s an Onion Lover to Do? 

There are a lot of different ways that people say you can help yourself out in the onions and tears department. How effective these strategies are depends a lot on your own genetics, on the onion you’re cutting, and the universe in general. 

  • Put a barrier between you and that nasty onions gas by slicing onions under clear plastic or glass. 
  • Cut onions under a vent or fan to help disperse the gases away from your eyes. 
  • Freeze the onion before cutting it. 
  • Cut the onion under the water. 
  • Wear goggles. 
  • Cook the onion, then slice it. Cooking deactivates the enzymes.
  • Rinse your eyes after cutting to help flush out the sulfuric acid. 
  • Use a cold compress or even cucumber on your eyes to reduce the irritation after cutting (another vegetable to the rescue!).
  • Try clearing your eyes with some eye drops. 

The only sure fire way to not cry when cutting onions is to not cut them in the first place. 

Let Us Cut Your Onions for You

If you’re still chopping onions, it’s a crying shame! Why not let Gills Onions do the hard work for you. It doesn’t matter if you’re a chef whipping up your signature dish or a home cook experimenting with a new recipe. Our sliced and diced, ready-to-use, value-added products save time — and tears — while delivering the best onion flavor there is. 

Ready to try onions grown “The Gills Way”? Contact our sales department to learn more.

We Love Our New Resealable Film (You Should, Too!)

Posted on by Foodmix Marketing

Innovation is the name of the game at Gills Onions. We’re always looking for new and improved ways to grow our onions, serve our customers, and take care of our planet. That’s why we are so excited to announce our new resealable film for our retail line. 

Now, it may not sound that exciting. You may be thinking, “What’s the big deal about some film?” 

Well, first off all, it’s resealable film. You can’t forget about the resealable part. Second, it’s a very big deal. Here’s why you should be just as excited about the new resealable film on Gills Onions retail product as we are. 

It’s Eco-Friendly

Doing right by the environment and minimizing waste are two of the most important parts of what we do at Gills Onions. We want to leave a big, beautiful, healthy earth behind for future generations. Every element of our business — down to the packaging we use for our products — affects our planet. 

In order for our retail products to stay fresh, they need to breathe. Traditionally, we place a breathable film onto each cup of product with a heat seal. Then, we put a lid on top. When you bring your veggies home, you remove the seal, take out what you need, and put the lid back on. It’s super convenient and stores well. 

But, our new resealable film brings all those benefits plus it reduces the use of plastic by 20%. You don’t need a lid anymore. You can peel back the film to remove the veggies you need and then stick it right back in place, over and over again, without losing freshness. By maintaining the breathability of the resealable film, we are able to keep the longest shelf life in the industry — 18 days. 

Resealable Film Increases Food Safety

When you go to the store and buy your vegetables, you want to know that food you bring home is safe and protected from germs and contaminants. We put forth so much effort to keep our onions and vegetables clean and healthy before they arrive at the store, and we want our customers to be confident when they see the Gills Onions name.

When our resealable film is peeled back for the first time, the seal changes colors. This makes it simple to be sure that your product hasn’t been tampered with or damaged. If the seal is clear, your food is safe. 

It’s Convenient

The retail produce market is growing, especially because of the pandemic period during which so many people found their passion for cooking delicious meals at home. The only thing that makes fresh vegetables better is when they are prepped and ready to go. That means less time spent chopping and dicing and more time enjoying delicious food with the ones you love. 

You’ll find our new resealable film on all our retail products: 

  • Diced Yellow Onions – Use to spice up any recipe that calls for chopped or diced onions. 
  • Diced Red Onions – Add something extra to soups, chilis, and sauces, or use as a colorful condiment. 
  • Diced Celery and Onions – The perfect blend for potato salads, tuna salads, and holiday stuffings and casseroles. 
  • Diced Mirepoix – An aromatic mix of onions, carrots, and celery. Add to sauces, braised meats, and marinades. 
  • Diced Pickled Onions — A tasty, tangy addition to salads, burgers, sandwiches, and cooked dishes. 

So, get out there, and take our new resealable film for a test drive. We can’t wait to hear what you think!

Ready to try onions grown “The Gill Way”? Contact our sales department to learn more.

Lessons Learned from 2020 and Industry Predictions for 2021

Posted on by Foodmix Marketing

When it comes to the year 2020, where do we begin? So much has happened, and so much has changed. An unprecedented world pandemic turned the entire foodservice industry on its head, but it also taught us some valuable lessons. Unexpected trends and adaptations fueled innovations that will carry through into 2021 and beyond. 

So, while we wouldn’t jump at the chance to repeat 2020 anytime soon, we are grateful to be standing strong on the other side, and we’re optimistic for the future. Here’s what we’ve seen over the past year in the food industry and what we expect to see through the rest of 2021.

Discovering the Chef Within

With quarantine measures in place, the average Joes and Janes of the world became acquainted with their kitchens. For too many people, cooking is a lost art — or a skill they never took the time to find in the first place. Being stuck at home opened up an opportunity to explore the amazing world of food by trying new recipes and new foods. Baking bread, pickling, preserving, and canning foods are more popular than they have been in decades.

Luckily for those of us at Gills Onions, the tried and true produce of the world wasn’t forgotten. After all, an onion is a healthy, flavorful, and versatile ingredient. Every time someone purchased produce to cook their next meal, they supported farmers and producers across our nation. Thanks for cooking!

Prioritizing Health and Sustainability 

With or without a pandemic, you always need to eat more veggies. That’s a sentiment that both foodservice and individual consumers took to heart over the last year. Plant-based diets continue to be on the rise with a focus on health boosting trends like CBD products, herbal pharmaceuticals, kombucha drinks, and, of course, plant-based proteins. 

We also saw greater concern for sustainability and a focus on the environment. As a society, we were able to take a step back and really think about how our personal choices affect those around us, our planet included. 

Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do at Gills Onions, so we are excited for the opportunity to share our mission with even more audiences. In 2021, we anticipate a trend toward more interest in where food comes from and how it is grown. By encouraging widespread use of conscious farming practices, we can all work together for a healthier planet while improving our personal health as well. 

The Evolution of Delivery 

When rising numbers of COVID-19 cases forced foodservice closures and put indoor dining on notice across the world, restaurants and grocery stores had to adapt. The shift from indoor dining to delivery, takeout, drive-thru services, and ghost kitchens allowed our industry to rise from the ashes. Even though many retail food establishments continue to struggle, delivery options have become a viable way to keep doors open. 

Before the pandemic, grocery store pick up and delivery was a trend many expected to take off. We never could have predicted how quickly these services would become essential for many Americans. 

At Gills Onions, we’ve had to adapt to the changing landscape, too. We’re committed to helping our customers as they reopen and providing them with the same great service — and great onions — as we always have. Whether you’re back to indoor dining, keeping it outdoors, or still relying on takeout and delivery, we’ll be there to save you time and money with high quality, value-added produce.

Lingering Lockdown Habits

As we look to the future, we hope that many of the good habits and attitudes developed during lockdown will carry on. Knowing where your food comes from and being conscious about what you eat is so important for physical health and for our environment. While 2020 was a difficult year, it also took us back to our roots and reminded us why food is so wonderful to begin with. 

Here’s to a new normal in 2021!

Ready to try onions grown “The Gill Way”? Contact our sales department to learn more.