Photo Credit: Personal.Psu.Edu
Since I pretty much put onions in EVERYTHING, I think I’ve developed eyeballs of steel. That being said, I’ve had many readers ask me if I had any tips and tricks to help stop the burning/crying when cutting them.
Over the years, I think I’ve found 3 ways to help with this problem. Each way on it’s own is helpful, but if you can do all 3, I can almost garuntee you won’t shed a single tear!
1) Put the onion in the fridge for 1-hour before you cut it. Without getting too technical, the stuff in the onions that make you cry are activated at room temperature. Under colder conditions, you greatly reduce the chemical reactions and therefore reduce the burning and subsequent crying. A little tip here, the onions can get a weird texture if you leave them in too long, so only do this right before cooking with them.
2) Wear Sunglasses. Not only will you look cool (okay that’s a lie, you’ll look like a freak), but your the glasses stop the fumes from hitting your eyes. Obviously goggles that seal you off are a better choice, but then you’ll look really silly. My boyfriend, Dan has such sensitive eyes that sometimes he throws on a pair while I’m cutting them because it hurts him!
3) Breathe through your Mouth: I can’t totally explain why this one works, but this is my go-to trick all the time. Whenever I cut an onion, I never breathe through my nose and my eyes never seem to burn. I can’t promise it will work for everyone, but for me, it’s the way to go!
A lot of people shy away from onions because they are scared of the burning. I hope these tips and tricks help and you all will embrace the beauty of the onion a little more! For my favorite onion recipe, check out my caramelized onions. These are totally worth a few tears, I promise.
Love always,
Erica
This is very cool! If you chew gum while you chop onions, it actually helps with the burning eyes! I have no idea how, but it works!
Awesome!