How to cut an onion without tears!

We all love onions, this delicious vegetable is rich in vitamins and minerals, other than tasty and widely used in many dishes. There are many varieties, white, red, small or big but anyone has the same downside, tears!

Why the onions irritate our eyes?

This vegetable, so rich in taste it's also full of enzymes. Specifically, onions have a lachrymatory-factor synthase, these enzymes start a reaction, converting the amino acids sulfoxides into sulfenic acid. This reaction is unstable and rearranges itself in Syn-propanethial-S-oxide, which, floating in the air stimulates and irritates lachrymal glands. Long story short: chemicals stuff react, you cry.

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Chopping an onion can be such a painful task, but obviously, there are some tricks for avoiding tears.

First of all, peel the onion with your hands, this will make the process less painful, activating the chemical reaction only when you are properly chopping it.

Fridge or freezer

A simple solution is to put the onions in the fridge for an hour or into the freezer for around 15 minutes. The cold slows the reaction.

Alternatively, you can cool the knife's blade with running cold water.

Sharp knife

Sharper is the knife, neater are the cuts, this means fewer substances floating in the air towards your eyes.

Make it quick!

More than a trick, this is a smart suggestion, if you need to chop an onion in tiny bits, this is a good way to do it quickly and precisely.

Cut the onion in half, vertically. Chop off the top and then do horizontal cuts without completely chopping it. Then cut vertically and voilà!

What do you think?