Onions are really emotional. When you try to chop them, they will start telling extremely sad stories about their life. Like how their mother was killed just to give birth to her and her other siblings or how she wanted to be a mother but now she will die just to make your food taste a little better. In front of these sad tales, not many people can hold their tears. Almost we all cry while cutting onions.
Now, if you ask people for advices on how not to cry while cutting onions. Everyone will give you a different answer. From covering your ears to eyes, there is no end to advices. But, not all of them works perfectly fine. So today, we are going to learn about ways to not cry while cutting onions and be a real man. or woman…
Why must we cut onions
We are not trees. Thus, we are unable to produce our own food. We depend on other things for food. With being able to consume a lot of things as our food, comes the matter of delicacy. While we could have survived eating raw food, we chose to cook them. Maybe in the past, cooking was all about roasting things. But now, it has evolved to be a piece of art. We invented various seasoning which would have been meaningless consuming raw. But when mixed together other great food, it becomes a great dis.
Until now, there have been invented countless types of recipes of various foods and dishes. Onions are a blessing to our delicacy. Most of our recipes include onions in them, be it cooked or raw, chopped or smashed. For that reason, we have to cut onions almost every day. Not being able to hold our tears to an onion just comes with it. Like a bundle offer!!
Why do onions make us cry?
To solve the issue of our teary eyes, we need to know why we can’t hold our tears first. No, it’s not entirely because of those sad stories of the onion’s life. Not at all, to be precise. The main reason is because onions have a secret weapon to protect themselves. So when you cut into the onion, it triggers the defense system and activates the weapon that makes us cry.
Their secret weapon
Inside the onions, There are tiny cells. When you cut into those cells, they break open and release this special chemical. This special chemical is a tiny particle. Small enough to fly in the air like gas. They fly in the air like an invisible gas.
When these little invisible gas reaches your eyes, they react. Thus, you feel a burning sensation. Your eyes don’t like that feeling, so they start to make tears. Those tears are produced to wash away the chemical and the burning sensation. That’s the main reason why your eyes get all teary when cutting onions.
How to not cry while cutting onions?
We know why we get all teary when cutting onions. But, simply knowing this won’t help from stopping this. We need a way to counter their secret weapon. So that we will never have to cry ever again. There are a lot of ways and hacks out there to try out. Some of them work while some others don’t. We will be listing some of the best ways that we have personally tested and works perfectly fine to stop you from getting all teary while cutting onions. Let’s see them one by one.
1. Use a fan to avoid crying
The defense mechanism of onions are a kind of gas which floats on air. But if those gas can’t reach your eyes then they can not make you cry just like that!
A fan has a motor inside of it. When you turn on a fan, the motor inside starts to spin. With it’s motor also spins its blades. Which then pushes the air forward. Thus creating a great flow of wind. Now, how does an onion make you cry? It uses a special kind of gas that reacts with your eyes and making you feel a burning sensation. To relieve eyes of the burning sensation, tear is produced. But, turning on the fan helps you blow away the gas even before it reaches your eyes. Without the gas reaching you, you are invincible against the onions.
How effective is fanning?
A fan can be a really good and effective way of reducing onion tears. But, it might not completely stop them. And in this method, the more powerful fan you use, the better the trick will work. Opening up the window can also help it work in a better way. It will throw the gas out the window. So, next time chopping onions, remember the keep a fan.
2. Use goggles as a shield
Since the onions can use various attacking methods to make you cry, you should also you defense to fight against those onions. Imagine having shield that protects your eyes from the gas released by onions. When you put on goggles, they create a barrier between your eyes and the air around you. So, the special gas that makes your eyes water, can not reach to your eyes thanks to the barrier given by the goggles. This is a really effective method which works with a hundred percent success rate. All you need is a well suited goggles and you are all good to go.
3. Light up a candle
Lighting a candle can be of somewhat help. The fire of a candle can help pull the onion gas away from the air and burn them. If those gas are burned, then they won’t be able to reach your eyes and be unable to make them teary. It’s like a tiny vacuum cleaner for those gas. But it might not be as helpful as the other methods. And also, it matters on what kind of candle you use. So, some candle can be really helpful while others will be of little help. So while it is a good method to use, it cannot guarantee good effects.
The methods explained above are well tested methods that you can also use in your daily life. there are other methods such freezing the onion or heating up the onion and many more stupid methods. But since those are not so effective, we have excluded from our list. So that you don’t regret after applying some weird method that does not work at all. With our well tested methods, you can easily chop onions without any worry of getting all teary. Thanks for the read, I hope it was helpful.