Love Onions? This Might Be The Career For You
Let's talk about onions for a second. Yes, those delicious, crunchy, multilayered bulbs with a pungent aroma that can make you cry and sometimes give you gnarly breath. Onions are a member of the allium family (along with scallions, shallots, leeks, chives, and garlic) and are chock-full of essential minerals and nutrients, including vitamins B and C, fiber, and potassium. They're also loaded with antioxidants, which help reduce one's risk of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Additional benefits of regularly incorporating onions into your diet include controlled blood sugar and improved digestion, according to Healthline.
So, yeah. Onions are pretty amazing! What if we told you there was an opportunity to be surrounded by one of the world's most ubiquitous alliums every single day? Landing a fulfilling job is a top goal for most people. And jobs are even better when they center around something you're passionate about, right? If you're nodding right now, you just might be the perfect fit for the role of onion grader. And no, it doesn't involve grading tests taken by little onions.
What does an onion grader do?
Believe it or not, an onion grader (also called an onion inspector) is a real agriculture job that requires real training. However, it takes a lot more than a love for onions to become an official grader. As Culinary Careers explains, graders examine a wide variety of onions and categorize them. Onion categories typically include size, color, quality, type, and recommended commercial usage. They also remove any spoiled onions from the bunch. There was a significant recall of contaminated onions in 2020 — maybe they just needed a better onion grader.
But don't be fooled: the job of onion inspector is quite labor-intensive. It requires a lot of work with your hands and long hours on your feet, sometimes in dusty and hot conditions, per Culinary Careers. Still think you're a good fit for this type of job? Looking for a career change? Well, you're in luck, because there are tons of openings on job sites like Lensa for agricultural commodity grader assistant positions right now.