Onions are delicious. They give every dish they’re in a healthy dose of flavor, they’re accessible and inexpensive, and they taste great no matter how they’re prepared. Their only major downside is, of course, the fact that they are so incredibly painful to cut. Chopping onions doesn’t just bring tears to your eyes — it literally hurts your eyes in the process, making you squint as you cry and wonder what you’re doing to deserve this torture. But it doesn’t have to be that way! There are some things you can do to make the experience less horrible. There’s one surprising trick to stop you from crying when you chop an onion that we almost can’t believe (it’s that strange).
First, though, you should know exactly what’s causing the tears. When you cut an onion, Science Bob says it releases a gas called Propanethiol S-oxide. When it’s mixed with certain enzymes in the onion, it creates a sulfur gas. These gasses get into your eyes and create a mild acid that is very irritating. Your instinct is to shut your eyes, which is not the best idea when you have a knife in your hand. So instead, your body protects your eyes by creating tears.
As anyone who cuts onions regularly knows, you can’t just put on a pair of sunglasses to block your eyes and call it a day.
You need to get a little more creative with your techniques. According to the internet, and specifically a Reddit thread from 2013, you can try using a matchstick. The Reddit user says that if you bite down on the wooden end of a matchstick, the match head will absorb the vapors from the onion before they get to your eyes. Two important things to keep in mind: it has to be an unlit matchstick (lighting it won’t work and could be very dangerous), and you’ll need to swap it out every few minutes, since it won’t last forever.
While some on the internet swear by this trick, others (like this writer from Patch) say it doesn’t work well at all. It’s easy enough to mean it’s worth a shot, but if it doesn’t work for you, here are a few more tips to test out:
Freeze the onion or soak it in cold water first.
According to Greatist, the cold will slow the conversion of sulfoxides into the gases that hurt your eyes. Freezing a peeled onion supposedly does help with the tears, but it will also leave your hands feeling almost frostbitten.
Dice instead of chop.
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTbT6fh-Vak"]While dicing and chopping seem like the same thing, they aren’t. Dicing is neater and calculated, while chopping is more rough and haphazard. According to Huffington Post, chopping damages the cell walls of the onion, which releases the chemical that bothers your eyes. Dicing minimizes cell damage. To do it properly, cut the onion first in half through the root and flower end. Peel back the skin. Then slice the onion halves vertically, almost through to the roots and ends while using the natural lines of the onion as a guide. Cut horizontally with the knife parallel to the cutting board, then cut the onion vertically again, perpendicular to your first cuts. This supposedly leads to less tearing.
Wear contact lenses or goggles.
Protecting your eyes so that the gases never get to them is ideal. If you wear contact lenses, keep them in when chopping onions. The lenses protect your eyes. Goggles that keep air from getting to your eyes should also help, although glasses won’t.
Put a piece of bread in your mouth.
Sticking a piece of bread in your mouth is supposed to work similarly to the matchstick: the bread should absorb the gases as they come up before they hit your eyes.
Soak the onion in water first.
Cut off the onion’s ends and peel it, then let it soak in a bowl of water for about 15 minutes. It’s supposed to draw out the sulfuric compounds from the onion into the water, leading to less tears. The downside? It makes the onion slippery for cutting, which could be dangerous, and it also makes the onion taste more mild.
Honestly? These are all worth a try if it means you might stop crying when chopping onions!
