Onions contain propanethial S-oxide that causes tears in your eyes. While cutting an onion, a series of chemical reactions take place that causes this chemical to be released. Once released, it will irritate your eyes and fill them with tears. Here are some ways by which you can prevent tears while cutting onions.
How to keep tears away when you cut onions
- Put the onions in the refrigerator. You should chill the onions before cutting them as while cutting a cold onion, less propanethial S-oxide would be released and evaporate. However, refrigerate and do not freeze!
- Use a sharp knife. Cutting the onions with a sharp knife will lower the damage caused to the cell walls and hence fewer irritants are released.
- You should keep the cut onions away from you. As you cut the onion into halves and start cutting one half, put the other half in a bowl away from you.
- Whistling while you cut onions is believed to reduce the tears in your eyes.
- Chewing gum or bread can really help in avoiding tears while cutting onions. You should chew gum before starting the cutting process. This stimulates the production of saliva which will prevent tear formation in your eyes.
- Always try to breathe through your mouth while cutting the onions. Try sticking your tongue out. Also, try avoiding breathing through your nose as it can lead to more tears when cutting onions.
- You can always wear a pair of goggles while cutting onions as it is the best method of avoiding tear formation in the eyes. If you have swimmer’s goggles or gas-tight goggles or a mask, it can work wonders.
- You can also try soaking the onion in water as the chemical gets denatured when it contacts the air and water interface.
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