Onion hardly seems like the best vegetable to base a soft drink on,
but Onionade doesn’t contain the kind of onion you’re used to, but a new
type that not only doesn’t make you cry when you chop it, but it
unusually sweet as well.
Back in 2016 we reported on one of the most interesting inventions to
come out of Japan in the past few years – a tear-free onion named
“Smile Ball”. Developed over a period of 14 years by scientists at House
Foods Group, Smile Ball onions release almost no tear-inducing
compounds when chopped or eaten raw, and have a much sweeter taste than
regular onions. Available in Japanese grocery stores for the past two
years, Smile Balls have been marketed mainly as tear-free alternatives
to the common onion, but now its producers want to promote the
vegetable’s sweetness and pleasant flavor as well. And what better way
to do that than by producing an onion-based drink called Onionade?
Once just a funny meme about a drink that no one could stomach,
Onionade is about to become a real commercial product. The onion-based
soft drink is made with water, Smile Ball onions, lemons, and honey.
Describes as fruity with a citrus aftertaste, Onionade can be consumed
as is, or with soda and alcohol, as part of a refreshing cocktail.
According to the guys at SoraNews24, who’ve had the chance to try at a recent event in Japan, Onionade smells just like an onion, but tastes more like apple.
Onionade is currently available for online order via Japanese crowdsourcing platform Makuake.
Its creators are using the campaign to asses demand for an onion-based
soft drink, and so far it’s looking pretty good. After just a day, the
campaign has reached 61% of its target amount, and with 59 days to go,
it’ll probably be funded several time over.
It’ll be interesting to see if Onionde sparks any interest outside
Japan, but the drink itself isn’t meant to take on giants like Coca Cola
anyway. It’s just another way to make Smile Ball onions known to the
world, and so far the strategy is working.
