Hi Everybody-- Well, The Montezuma Yardmaster dude wanted to know more, so here you go:

The company was the vision of William M. Hume of Pasadena, who was favorably impressed by the
promise of dehydration, even though previous and existing manufacturers’ products weren’t popular with
the public due to poor flavor and quality.
Hume’s partner was J.B. Pardick and together they opened a small onion dehydration operation in Corpus
Christi, Texas. The year was 1932.
Disappointingly, it became immediately obvious that the Texas onion was too water-laden for proper
dehydration and the operation was abandoned. It was also apparent that dehydration was a bit more
complicated than just passing warm air over vegetables.
Still convinced of the potential of dehydration, Hume, his partner, his brother Jack and a chemical engineer
set up a research lab in Hume’s Pasadena garage. By 1933 they were ready to try a commercial enterprise
again.
Their research had been successful. They perfected a process that retained the pungent flavor of onions and
garlic, the onion even retaining the “tear” quality which gives it its strong flavor.
The partners also focused on the optimum area for growing a low-moisture onion, and Vacaville was
selected.
Hume and Pardick rented Ed Uhl’s prune dehydrator during his off-season. With a crew of 15 to 20
employees, Pardick oversaw the processing of 50,000 pounds of onions that first year. Business grew bit by
bit and in 1935 the research headquarters in Hume’s garage moved to Vacaville.
In June of that year, Martha E. Walters, who had a master’s degree in food chemistry from Mills College,
was employed to develop methods for quality control and to find the best ways to substitute dehydrated
products for fresh in such foods as ketchup, chili sauce, sausages, soups and stews. Her experiments
resulted in a product that did not lump as it was previously prone to do.
Despite the partners’ success in developing a superior dehydrated product, consumers were reluctant to
accept the goods because of the miserable products they had previously been introduced to. Scorched
flavors had come to characterize such products. One commercial food packer had to be called on a total of
140 times by a Basic representative before he was convinced of the product’s quality.
The product was marketed not only for its quality, but also for its ability to save labor, lower cost and
provide uniform taste. Suggested use was for canned goods, such as soups, pork and beans, chili con carne
and corned beef hash. It was pointed out that 1 ounce of onion powder was equal to 10 to 15 ounces of
fresh onion, and garlic powder had five times the strength of fresh.
The campaign eventually met with success and by 1940, any reluctance to try Basic’s dehydrated onions
and garlic was history. At this point, the Army stepped in with war business that would be a milestone in
Basic’s story.
Impressed by food products they had sampled containing Basic’s products, the Army called for direct
samples, but required “chunks” of onions rather than powder. Basic had been successful with onion chips
in grocery stores and sent these to the Army.
The Army readily accepted the Basic Onion and requisitioned all Basic’s dried onions for the duration of
the war. Mess hall output and K-rationed goods would never look back. Basic’s onion products became
standard ingredients in the mess halls’ soups, stews and hash.
It was an instant hit with the soldiers overseas as it added just the right zip to their K-rations. As one
lieutenant in New Guinea noted: “It is possible to use (dried onions) for lunch and dinner on canned
sausages, meat, stew, etc., and no matter how bad the stuff is, it always tastes good with the onions.”

Not only did the Basic onion serve to liven up the American troops’ food supplies, but through the Lend-
Lease government program it became a staple ingredient for the Allies.
During the war, many tried to jump on the bandwagon and dry vegetables commercially, but the results
were always crude. Unlike Basic, they did not research methods for preparing the vegetables, removing
moisture and packaging and storing properly.
Basic’s big moment in time came at 3 p.m. March 3, 1944, at the company’s plant headquarters, when
Hume and other company officials were presented the coveted Army-Navy “E” flag, Uncle Sam’s highest
production award. It was given to Basic for outstanding performance producing supplies for the troops:
Basic had dried 63 million pounds of onions in a year for the Army.
The flag was presented by Col. A.W. Stanley, director of procurement, California Quartermaster Depot of
Oakland. Employees were awarded “E” pins.
The event was widely heralded in The Reporter as “one of the most memorable days in Vacaville’s
history.” Businesses in town shut down for the day. The event was broadcast live over the McClatchy chain
of radio stations.
That flag was proudly incorporated into the logo of Basic Vegetable Products Co.
On July 17, 1945, just after V-J Day, the “freeze order” by the Army was terminated on Basic’s products,
and Basic once again began an advertising campaign aimed at the civilian market. With the prestigious “E”
flag, the company had a new image to flaunt.
Business boomed! Basic was running 24 hours a day, processing 400,000 pounds of onions daily. Basic’s
products were in such high demand that its postwar production almost matched the high volume it had been
producing for the Army.


Cheers to all..

KRK