What's the *secret* to chopping onions W/O crying/dying?

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  • Biggy5890
    Biggy5890 Posts: 9 Member
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    Wayfarers...

    Plus you'll look oh, so hip with that knife ;)
  • bsix3
    bsix3 Posts: 291
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    invest in a food processor!
  • MyLovesMyLife
    MyLovesMyLife Posts: 424 Member
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    wet the onion before cutting it.
  • Shayztar
    Shayztar Posts: 415 Member
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    Totally on an onion kick right now. Not sure why. So...BUMP
  • AuddAlise
    AuddAlise Posts: 723 Member
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    Am I the only one who doesn't mind onion smell? I do wear contacts so maybe that is it?
  • EmpressOfJudgment
    EmpressOfJudgment Posts: 1,162 Member
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    Skimmed through the first page of replies and they are not right at all. Wash the onion, just with water. When you peel off a layer there is that filmy translucent skin... that is what causes the tears. Even just having some on your hands will get you going.
    Oooh, baby. I love when onions get me going.
  • Irish_eyes75
    Irish_eyes75 Posts: 475
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    I wear contacts = no crying :bigsmile:
  • Kenzietea2
    Kenzietea2 Posts: 1,132 Member
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    Refrigerate before cutting, hold a match stick in between your teeth (unlit, please haha), burn a candle near the cutting board.. or my personal favorite, have my husband do it for me. I am EXTREMELY sensitive to them and really can't do it by myself. Even just being near the kitchen makes my eyes burn.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,326 Member
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    the tv secret is ...... EDITING.
  • tennisbabe94
    tennisbabe94 Posts: 444 Member
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    I chop onions pretty much on the daily and have never had the urge to cry... Hm.. Maybe it's because I use them so often that I've grown immune to it?
  • AllyCatXandi
    AllyCatXandi Posts: 329 Member
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    Just put some swimming goggles on and you're set. You won't feel a thing :D
  • dewetoys
    dewetoys Posts: 4
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    My son said in culinary school: They tell them to put them in the freezer for a bit and then they willnot bother you. It seems to work.
  • 1SlimShaylee
    1SlimShaylee Posts: 204
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    light a candle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • paintlisapurple
    paintlisapurple Posts: 982 Member
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    Vidalia onions don't seem to give as powerful of a punch as the others. After I slice my onions in half and peel the skin away, I'll run them under water for a few seconds. It seems to help anyway.
  • AllyLuna
    AllyLuna Posts: 32
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    Enzymes in the onion react to water, so they hit the moisture in your eye making it burn, causing you to cry. Soaking an onion can help but it can also take away the flavour or cutting it underwater which is difficult! I found the best way was to keep my hands wet as well as leaving a puddle of water under the onion while cutting it on a plate. This works well because they enzymes make contact with the water first instead of your eyes, reacting there. Does that make sense? lol. Good luck!!

    http://www.ehow.com/how_2027460_slice-onion-crying.html
  • Owlie45
    Owlie45 Posts: 810 Member
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    Stick your head in the freezer, it works. You get a weird look when you do it at other peoples house :laugh:
    keep a glass of water next to you and dip the blade in it every couple cuts
  • Rurouni_Kou
    Rurouni_Kou Posts: 180 Member
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    Wow theres so much myth here.
    The reason onions make you cry is that when you cut an onion you're breaking the cells, which release a gas that mixes with the water in your eyes and creates sulfuric acid. Yes, sulfuric acid in your eyes*. That's why they're burnin.

    -Dangling bread out of your mouth only makes you look silly. It does nothing to change the fact that there is a vapor in the air nor that that vapor is mixing with your watery eyes and burning. Bread doesn't remove the vapor nor make your eyes dry (unless you're the person watching the bread dangling person, then you get dry eyed from crying too much when laughing)
    -Same with chewing gum (Seriously, what is that supposed to do other than give you a sore jaw? It doesn't do anything for the vapor or the water in eyes.)

    Things that do work:
    -Goggles (derp)
    -Get a fan to waft away the vapors
    -cut the onion with a sharp knife (less breakage of the cells than when it's sharp) and cut it when it's chilly (Slows the reaction and apparently changes the onion chemically)
    -Cut it underwater or regularly wash the onion to get rid of the oils

    More info: http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryfaqs/f/onionscry.htm

    *I actually learned about sulfuric acid being formed from cutting onions when I was watching the Atheists response to "The banana: an atheists nightmare" (this is what I'm referring to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK0Cs8Alhds). Every time I cut onions I think about it and try not to giggle- it makes it hard to cut onions.

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