Dehydrated onion kibbled 10-15 mm is the largest of the cut forms, minced onion 1-3 mm is a small, even piece, and dehydrated garlic flakes are sliced rather than cut to a stated square. The millimetre figure is the particle size you should see in the bag, and it decides how the product behaves in the finished food.
The three forms are made from the same dried onion or garlic. What differs is the cutting, sieving and, for garlic, the slice thickness.
What does each size look like in food?
Size determines both appearance and rehydration time, so match it to the application.
- Kibbled onion at 10-15 mm has visible pieces and a bite, which suits soups, stews, ready meals and meat toppings.
- Chopped onion sits between kibbled and minced and suits sauces and fillings.
- Minced onion at 1-3 mm rehydrates fast and blends into dressings, dips, snack seasoning and sausage mixes.
- Garlic flakes are thin slices that rehydrate in minutes and give a strong flavour, so they suit seasonings and pastes.
How are the sizes controlled?
After drying, the onion is cut and then passed through sieves. The product held between two screens becomes the grade. A 1-3 mm minced onion, for example, passes a 3 mm screen but is retained on a 1 mm screen.
The tolerance is the key figure. A plant that sells "1-3 mm" without saying how much may sit outside it is giving you no protection. Ask for a percentage oversize and a percentage fines limit, and have the supplier test every lot. All forms of dehydrated onion and all forms of garlic describe the range.
What belongs in a garlic flakes specification?
Flake size is expressed as slice size or a screen range. Beyond size, ask for moisture, colour, a foreign-matter limit and a microbiological result. Garlic should also state whether it is raw white or has been bleached or treated, and the plant should declare the drying method.
Add a statement on sulphites if you sell into a market that regulates them, and check that against your own labelling rules with your importer or regulator.
What else should the specification include?
Particle size is only part of it. A usable specification also lists moisture, colour, pungency for onion, total plate count, yeast and mould, and a metal-detection requirement. Name the sampling method and the test standards so both labs measure the same way.
Cost depends on the raw bulb crop, yield, drying energy, grade and pack, so we give no figure. A firm offer depends on your written spec. For where the products are made see the Mahuva guide to onion and garlic plants.
How should you check a sample on arrival?
Spread a weighed sample on a white tray and look at it. Pieces much larger or smaller than the stated range will be obvious, and so will dark specks, stalk and skin. Then run it through your own sieves, or have a lab do so, and compare the retained weights with the tolerance in your order.
Do this on the pre-shipment sample and again on arrival, and keep both. If the two differ, you have a record that shows where the change happened.
Next step
If you want the size and quality of your onion or garlic written into a specification and matched to a plant, book a free sourcing review. You can read more about our work in agriculture.