Onion Research (1959)

Leatherhead, Surrey. At the British Food Manufacturing Industries Research Association we see several shots of research being carried out to find the perfect pickling onion. Pickled onions are tasted by men in tweed suits; raw onions are peeled and examined by men who make notes. A woman uses an adding machine, presumably to input some kind of onion data! Another woman makes notes while a man checks on onions being peeled in a special machine with a revolving drum. The peeled onions are put into large jars with brine. The next stage shows onions being washed in a big basin of water, then sealed in jars and heated in water to pasteurise them. A male scientist draws ’onion liqueur’ with a pipette from a jar of onions; we see it bubbling in glass jars amongst other laboratory equipment on a workbench. Another man looks at slides containing onion bacteria through a microscope. A woman member of the tasting panel is seen biting thoughtfully into a pickled onion and making notes. Note: there are n