"How can your products contain onion and garlic extract but still be low FODMAP?"
We get this question all the time about our O-No-Nion and Garli-Not powders and honestly, it’s a very fair one. Grab a cuppa, it’s time for a quick science lesson!
First Things First: What Are FODMAPs?
FODMAPs are types of carbohydrates (aka sugars) that are naturally found in many foods. For people with IBS, these can be poorly absorbed in the gut and lead to symptoms like bloating, pain, and gas.
In onion and garlic, the main FODMAP is called a fructan. Fructans are water-soluble.
That means if you soak onion or garlic in water, the FODMAPs will actually leach out into the liquid.
This is why simply picking onion or garlic out of a meal doesn’t make it low FODMAP, the fructans have already dissolved into the dish.
What About the Flavour?
Here’s the magic! The flavour compounds in onion and garlic are oil-based, not water-based.
And if you remember anything from high school chemistry… oil and water don’t mix
So… What Did the Clever Scientists Do?
They worked out how to extract the oil (aka the flavour) from onion and garlic, without bringing the FODMAPs along for the ride.
This process gives you all that rich, savoury, garlic-onion goodness… minus sore tummy.
How We Turn That Into a Powder
Once the flavour has been extracted (in liquid form), it’s added to a starch.
This starch acts like a sponge, absorbing the liquid extract and transforming it into a convenient, easily dissolvable powder.
So when you’re using O-No-Nion or Garli-Not, you’re getting:
- The flavour of onion and garlic
- Without the fructans
- In an easy-to-use, gut-friendly form
How to Use It:
Unlike regular onion or garlic, you don’t need to cook these powders at the beginning.
Add towards the end of cooking. The starch dissolves quickly, releasing all that flavour without needing to be fried off.
Thanks to a little bit of food science magic, you can still enjoy those rich, comforting meals without triggering your symptoms, which we think is pretty life changing!