This tip will show you how to cut an onion without crying ever again!

Chopping an onion can be a daunting and difficult task. If you tend to cry a lot while chopping onions, it can become difficult to see and really slow down the cooking process.

Why do onions make you cry?  

When you start cutting onions you break their cells which releases the contents, causing the enzymes to mix. This results in propanethiol S-oxide which is a sulphur compound that irritates our eyes. The gas reacts with the water in our tears and forms sulphuric acid which burns, stimulating your eyes to release even more tears to flush the irritation.

How can you chop them without crying?

Now that we know how they are caused there is one simple way to try and stop ourselves from crying. That is to cool down the onion before we cut it, this will slow down the reactions of the enzymes and change the chemistry in the onion.

You can simply pop your onions into the fridge about half an hour before you need to chop them, or submerge them in the ice cold water for 30 seconds. If you don’t have ice on hand you could also try putting them in boiling water for 30 seconds, but this may alter their taste.

Will you try it? Do you have any other tips on how to chop an onion without crying?

Here is a quick video on how to stop yourself from crying when chopping onions: