What are "road onions"?

(SEPTEMBER 26, 2024) In Ontario, Oregon, people can find a special kind of onion by the roads this time of year. These onions are called "road onions." They fall off trucks and end up on the roads.

Ontario is known for tater tots, but the area grows more onions than potatoes. Farms in the Snake River Valley grow over 1 billion onions every year. These onions are mostly Spanish sweet onions.

John Breidenbach is the president of the Ontario Area Chamber of Commerce. He says onions are very important to the local economy. Onion season starts in mid-August and lasts until October. During this time, visitors often ask two things: "Are the road onions safe to eat?" and "Why are there so many?"

The answer to the first question is yes. Grant Kitamura works with Baker & Murakami Produce Co. He says these onions are the same as the ones sold in stores. They might be a little dirty, but you can wash them and eat them. Farmers don’t want to lose their onions, but sometimes they fall off the trucks when drivers go around corners.

The answer to the second questions is in the trucks. The onions are put in open-top trucks. If the trucks are too full, some onions roll off. Kitamura explains that it’s like trying to stack balls. Some slide off the stack.

Local people pick up these onions from the road. It’s a way to collect food for free. Breidenbach says he used to collect four or five road onions a day near his house when trucks passed by. Even though these onions can’t be sold anymore after falling on the ground, they are still good to eat. Kitamura says you can peel off any bad parts.