Onion Juice Concentrate
Onion juice concentrate is the pressed juice of Allium cepa bulbs, clarified and concentrated under vacuum to a high solids liquid, used as a savoury flavour and browning ingredient rather than as a beverage.
Fresh onion juice is mild until the tissue is disrupted, at which point the enzyme alliinase acts on S alk(en)yl cysteine sulphoxides in the cells and generates the volatile sulphur compounds that give onion its pungency, including propanethial S oxide, the lachrymatory factor that makes the eyes water. Those compounds are highly reactive and partly volatile, so how much survives into the finished concentrate depends directly on process design. The remaining composition is dominated by fructans and free sugars, which is why the concentrate browns readily and contributes both sweetness and Maillard colour when heated in a food.
Concentrate is traded at 65 to 72 Brix as a pale amber to dark brown viscous liquid, depending on how much heat it has taken, and packed in drums, pails or bag in box, ambient or chilled. It is fully miscible with water. The high sugar content makes it microbiologically stable at full strength, and the practical limits on shelf life are progressive darkening and the slow loss of the volatile sulphur fraction that carries the fresh onion character.
We source bulk Onion Juice Concentrate from top China manufacturers for our partners. The manufacturer is in Shandong. A smaller requirement can ship in a combined container with other ingredients.
Please send the grade you need, the volume and your destination port, and we will come back with a solution and a price.
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- Function
- Beverage ingredient
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Viscous liquid, free from fibre and foreign matter |
| Colour | Pale amber to dark brown according to grade |
| Flavour and odour | Characteristic onion, pungent or cooked according to grade, no putrid note |
| Soluble solids | 65.0 to 72.0 Brix at 20 degrees Celsius |
| pH | 4.0 to 5.0 |
| Total sugars | 55.0 percent minimum on concentrate |
| Pyruvate value | Reported per lot as a measure of pungency |
| Insoluble matter | 0.5 percent maximum, clarified grade |
| Lead | 0.1 mg/kg maximum |
| Arsenic | 0.1 mg/kg maximum |
| Total plate count | 1000 cfu/g maximum |
| Yeast and mould | 50 cfu/g maximum |
| Escherichia coli | Negative in 1 g |
| Salmonella | Negative in 25 g |
Common Markets Grades
The main split is between clarified concentrate, filtered to a bright liquid for clear sauces, brines and beverages, and unclarified or lightly screened concentrate, which retains fine solids and gives a fuller savoury body. A second distinction is thermal history, between a light coloured concentrate produced under a short low temperature route that keeps the fresh pungent note, and a caramelised or roasted concentrate deliberately held under heat to develop a sweet, cooked onion character with a dark colour.
Powder grades made by spray drying the concentrate onto maltodextrin are traded alongside the liquid, specified on moisture, solubility and bulk density. Further specification points cover white against red onion feedstock, organic certification, sulphite free declaration, and the pyruvate value, which is the standard laboratory measure of onion pungency and is the figure a buyer looking for flavour intensity actually specifies.
Applications
- Sauces, ketchups, marinades and condiment bases, where the concentrate supplies savoury depth and browning sugars
- Soups, stocks and bouillon, replacing fresh onion in a liquid process
- Meat marinades, brines and injection systems, where a liquid onion source doses evenly
- Processed meat, sausage and burger seasoning
- Snack and crisp seasoning slurries, before spray drying onto a carrier
- Savoury bakery fillings, pie and pastry preparations
- Dressings, mayonnaise and dips
- Ready meals and retort products, where fresh onion would be inconsistent between batches
- Savoury flavour manufacture, as a reaction flavour precursor supplying both sugar and sulphur
- Pet food palatants and coatings
Brands Using Onion Juice Concentrate
Widely-distributed consumer products that list Onion Juice Concentrate on the ingredient label.
- College InnOrganic Chicken Broth ↗A carton broth whose ingredient list includes organic onion juice concentrate alongside organic carrot juice concentrate and organic onion powder.Label verified 2026-08-31
- Pacific FoodsOrganic Chicken Chile Verde Soup ↗A ready to eat soup that lists onion juice concentrate among its seasonings, after onion powder and before the spices and chile pepper extract.Label verified 2026-08-31
- United DumplingsPork Soup Dumplings (Frozen XLB) ↗Frozen soup dumplings whose broth component lists organic onion juice concentrate within its organic vegetable stock.Label verified 2026-08-31
Brand names, product names and logos are the property of their owners. They appear here as published evidence that the ingredient is used, taken from the brand's own label or website. Their appearance is not an endorsement, and it does not mean the brand buys from us or from any manufacturer listed on this site.
China Manufacturers of Onion Juice Concentrate
Top Onion Juice Concentrate manufacturers in China.
Company names and logos are the property of the manufacturers themselves. They are listed here because our own directory records them as producing this ingredient. A listing is not an endorsement by them, and we do not represent them or speak on their behalf.
Regulatory Status
Onion and onion juice are conventional foods in the United States rather than food additives, and onion is listed among the spices and natural seasonings and flavourings generally recognised as safe for use in food. Manufacture is subject to the preventive controls requirements for human food, and where the concentrate is used as a flavouring it falls within the framework for natural flavourings and is declared accordingly. Onion juice used for its antimicrobial effect rather than for flavour is a point of attention, because an ingredient used to preserve a food is regulated on the basis of its technical function rather than its origin.
In the European Union onion is a food and onion juice concentrate is a food ingredient, not an additive, so no E number applies. Where the concentrate is prepared and sold specifically as a flavouring it comes under the flavourings regulation as a natural flavouring preparation. Labelling follows the food information rules, and the ingredient is declared by its name rather than as a flavouring where it is present in quantities that make a functional food contribution. Codex addresses the material through the standards for the sauces and condiments in which it is used, rather than through the general standard for food additives, which does not cover it. Pesticide residue and heavy metal limits of the destination market apply to the incoming bulbs.
Manufacturing Process
Onions are received, topped, tailed and peeled, usually by a combination of abrasive peeling and flame or steam peeling, then washed and inspected so that rot and dry skin do not carry through. The peeled bulbs are milled or shredded, and from that moment the enzymatic reactions that create onion flavour are running, so the mash is either pressed immediately in the cold to keep the pungent profile or held deliberately to allow flavour development. Pressing is carried out on a belt or screw press, and the raw juice is screened and centrifuged to remove fibre and fines.
Clarified grades take an enzyme treatment with pectinase, followed by fining and filtration through diatomaceous earth or a crossflow membrane, which removes the colloidal and protein material that would otherwise haze a sauce or a brine. The juice is deaerated and concentrated in a falling film or forced circulation evaporator under vacuum. Temperature and residence time in the evaporator set the outcome: a low temperature route keeps the concentrate pale and pungent, while a longer, hotter route drives Maillard browning and produces a dark caramelised product. The concentrate is drawn at target Brix, pasteurised, cooled and filled, or taken forward to a spray dryer with a carrier for powder grades.
