Horizon Produce in conjunction with Hartley Produce of
Prosser, Washington proudly introduces a new
incredibly sweet onion: Esta.

Hartley Produce of Prosser, Washington has long been recognized as one of the finest onion growers in North America. Their farm is ideal for the production of sweet onions; ample supplies of fresh sweet water from the Columbia River (photographed below), alluvial soil that is low in sulfur content and long, warm, sunny days are all necessary ingredients in creating the perfect sweet onion.

Onions fall into 2 categories: short day and long day onions. These names are derived from the length of daylight that is present when the onion begins its bulbing. Onions are photo-sensitive. This means the length of daylight that the plant is exposed to dictates when the bulbing will begin. Short day onions require less hours of daylight (short days) to form a bulb whereas long day onions require 15-16 hours of daylight (long days) to form a bulb.

All truly sweet onions have been short day onions. That is why it has been necessary to grow sweet onions in South America during their spring or summer, depending on the length of daylight (short day) which coincides with the fall or winter in North America.

Esta - A Different Kind of Onion

Recently, there has been a major breakthrough in the development of sweet onions: a long-day onion that is actually sweet. The new sweet onion is called Esta. The seeds are planted in Washington State in early March. By the end of March, the plant emerges from the ground and the warm weather nurtures the plant as it continues to grow. If this were a short day onion the bulbing would begin even though the plant is only a few inches tall. However, it is a long day onion and the plant will continue to grow until it reaches a height of 30 inches by late June. It is at this time the bulbing is initiated. The plant continues to grow in length and in the size of the bulb. The length of the top will determine the size of the bulb. To have a large onion bulb, there must be a long top to support the large bulb.

By mid-August the Esta has reach maximum maturity and the onion is then under-cut (the roots are severed from the bulb and the ground) and left to cure in the warm sun for three days.This creates a firm skin which protects the onion. The onion is then harvested by hand, clipping the roots and the top and placed in burlap bags and left in the field for five more days.

This allows warm dry air to continue the curing process. After five days in burlap, the onions are placed in 20 bushel bins and taken to Hartley’s state of the art storage facility.

Esta Sweet Onions
Storing Facility

The storage facility, a three million dollar structure, is state of the art and especially designed for the Esta sweet onion. This building utilizes a computer controlled combination of refrigeration, heat, and ventilation that all work in unison to create the perfect environment for the onion. 

What does the "Certified Sweet" logo mean?

Often, onions are called "sweet onions" but they do not taste sweet. We want to guarantee to our customers that each and every Esta Sweet onion will be a sweet onion. We have employed National Onion Laboratory, the leader in the industry in certifying the sweetness of an onion to certify that each and every onion will be guaranteed sweet.

National Onion Labs monitors the crop from the growing to the harvest. When the onions are taken out of storage and are ready for packaging, National Labs conducts tests for each lot by measuring the pyruvic acids and the sugars in the onion with gas chromatography. Pyruvic acid is the amount of pungency in the onion. Sugar content is also important in the determination of sweetness. If an onion has a low pyruvic acid but does not have a high sugar content, the onion will have no flavor. The combination of low pyruvic acid and high sugar content is necessary to create the ideal sweet onion. Vidalia considers an onion sweet if the pyruvics are 5.0 or below. Esta strives for a pyruvic acid reading in the 2’s with sugar in the 8’s. This combination of low pyruvics and high sugars create the ideal sweet onion and will set the standard for all other long day sweet onions.

• All Esta Sweet onions will carry the “Certified Sweet”™ logo
• Shipping season August 20th – January 31st

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