White onion or Allium cepa (“sweet onion”) are a cultivar of dry onion which have a distinct light and mild flavour profile. Much like red onions, they have a high sugar and low sulphur content, and thus have a relatively short shelf life. White onions are used in a variety of dishes, such as those of Mexican and European origin. Their uses in dishes often relate to their mild nature, they are often included in dishes to provide a light, fresh and sour taste to dishes and are often added uncooked to dishes such as salads. Flavour profile and culinary uses White onions have a distinctively mild flavour palette in comparison to other onion cultivars such as the red and yellow onions. They are distinctly less pungent and have a lighter flavour on account of their relatively high sugar and low sulphur content than other onion types. Because of this mild and easily palatable flavour, white onions are often used raw in dishes such as sandwiches and salads. When raw white onion is soaked after being finely chopped, it adopts a relatively sweet flavour profile as it loses its astringency. Due to this flavour profile, white onion is incredibly versatile in its uses for food. Its use is oftentimes central to the construction of salads as it provides a fresh, but not overwhelmingly pungent flavour sensation. It is also widely used as a central ingredient in the making of stews as its light flavour does not overpower the other elements of the dish, contributing to a cohesive flavour palette. White onion is also extremely useful as a component in fermented dishes such as coleslaw as its low astringency allows it to adopt a largely sweet flavour in the dish. It also has many uses in dishes such as salsas because of this low astringency. Diseases affecting white onions Onion Smudge The parasitic ‘Onion Smudge’ (“Colletotrichum circinans (Berk.) Voglino”) is a disease which affects crops of onion subspecies internationally, at all stages of development. Agricultural scientist, James Charles Walker notes that white onions are especially susceptible to infection of onion smudge due to the lack of pigment in its outer shells, as coloured onion subspecies contain a higher concentration of phenolic acid in its shells. Onion smudge thrives in damp soil conditions of above 20 degrees Celsius. The fungus can survive in the soil of onion plantations, and thus is extremely