We tried it: 7 hacks, tricks and gimmicks to prevent onion tears | Food and Recipes

American poet and writer Carl Sandburg is commonly attributed with the pursuing estimate: “Life is like an onion. You peel it one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.” Sandburg could have been onto a little something as significantly as life tips goes, but when it will come to slicing onions for a meal, have to tears be demanded?

Lots of persons have hacks they swear by for tear-no cost onion reducing, and we made a decision to give a several of the more promising strategies a consider . But to start with, why do onions make us cry? A lot like a skunk releases its potent odor when spooked or to defend by itself, an onion emits chemical substances (largely sulfenic acid) that warn us (or critters in your back garden) to remain absent so that it could expand to maturity and reproduce. The more cells of the onion that are weakened, the far more chemical substances are emitted. When they hit our eyes, we cry to flush the burning sensation away.

We grabbed a bag of yellow onions and place some of the most popular hacks to the test. In this article are our benefits.

Onion goggles

Final result: Do you glance absurd wearing goggles whilst slicing onions? Of training course. But does it avoid crying? Certainly! Any barrier among onion gasses and your eyes will suppress your chance of crying. You can obtain specialty onion goggles, but any goggles that suit tight in opposition to your skin, like swimming goggles, will function. (In a pinch, even sun shades will assistance at least cut down the amount of tears get rid of.)

Ranking: 9/10

Burning a candle

Outcome: Except you program to established the entire onion on fireplace, never program on this doing the job.

Score: /10

Set onion on a soaked towel

End result: Typical lore says that onion gasses are attracted to moisture, so would a damp paper towel beneath the onion do the job? Turns out… not seriously. Were there much less tears? Probably. But not more than enough to make it a typical observe when we slice onions.

Ranking: 2/10

Vinegar spritz

Result: It is claimed that the acidity of vinegar counteracts the sulfenic acid of the onion. We spritzed vinegar on the onion following chopping it in fifty percent and permit it sit for five minutes right before chopping — and it did appear to be to reduce tears marginally.

Rating: 4/10

Cold onion

Outcome: It’s claimed that beginning with a cold onion allows protect against the likelihood of tears, as it slows the launch of gasses when the onion is slash. It worked! Probably not as effectively as other approaches, but placing the onion in the refrigerator for 30 minutes in advance of reducing made a apparent big difference.

Rating: 7/10

Making use of the kitchen vent

Consequence: Turning on the kitchen vent or enthusiast attracts the sulfenic acid absent from the onion and your eyes, delivered you are standing directly underneath the vent.

Ranking: 7/10

Sharp knife

Result: Of all the approaches we tried using, a superior sharp knife was the greatest at avoiding tears a sharp knife cuts cleanly and hence more gently, detrimental and bruising much less onion cells.

Ranking: 9/10