7 Best Hacks To Go Tear Less When Chopping Onions

The internet has bestowed upon us an abundance of useful cooking tips throughout the course of the years. However, certain suggestions are more effective than others. Every cook, whether they do it at home or in a professional kitchen, has some suggestions for alleviating the day-to-day stresses that come with working in a kitchen. These can include ways to chop onions without shedding tears or inventive ways to incorporate green onions into various dishes. What causes our eyes to start watering when we cut into an onion? When the cells of an onion are sliced with a knife, it causes the onion to release enzymes into the air, which can irritate the nerves that are located around our eyes. These enzymes are different kinds of the acid sulfuric, which is what makes us cry. If you're anything like us, you've probably had enough of chopping onions while wiping your eyes. It's possible that you're already familiar with a few hacks that claim to stop the waterworks. These tips range from common sense to crazy, which is why we decided to put some of the more well-known methods for chopping onions without shedding any tears to the test. Here are the results of our investigation into the tearless onion-cutting methods that actually work. 

Also read: 5 Quick Tips To Prevent Onions From Sprouting In Summer

Chop next to hot water 

This WikiHow tip advises cutting an onion near a kettle of hot, steamy water. This method relies on water steam to "draw out the vapours from the onion, dispersing them. 

Freeze onion  

Before slicing an onion, many recommend freezing it for a few minutes. The onion should be chilled for 30 minutes to prevent acidic enzyme release. To be safe, freeze your onion. Chop the onion as soon as you take it out. This strategy works perfectly in most cases. Before the onion heats up, work fast. You may chop faster in the cold, but that can increase injury risk. If the onions freeze, they may be harder to chop and taste different. 

Cut under cold water 

Turning on the kitchen sink can prevent tears when chopping onions, according to some. Cold water slows the release of eye-signing enzymes from the onion. It also prevents some onion compounds from escaping into the air. According to WikiHow, this approach works best when an onion is thoroughly submerged in cold water. Use the kitchen sink's running water instead.  

Spray the chopping board with vinegar. 

WikiHow also suggests using a vinegar-sprayed cutting surface to avoid crying while chopping onions. Vinegar, being acidic, is thought to disrupt the onion's enzyme. Rotating the onion so that every exposed surface meets the vinegar on the chopping board seems like a good technique, but soaking the onions in enough vinegar so that every section is submerged seems like a waste of effort. 

Light a candle nearby 

It seems that candles can be used for more than just setting the ambiance when cooking. If you want to keep your eyes dry while cutting onions, WikiHow suggests lighting a candle and placing it nearby. It is said that this is effective because the "gas released by the onion is drawn into the flame of the candle." 

Peel onion towards root 

The onion skin—or how you remove it—prevents onion waterworks. The onion's roots contain most of the sulfuric chemicals that induce teary eyes, therefore keep the skin near the roots intact. Start by halving the onion. Peel each half from the cut side to the root.