Food talk: Here’s why onions make us cry and how to avoid the tears

Some people love to eat, while others love to cook. People who love to cook, always come up with new recipes and keep on watching cooking channels and shows on TV and YouTube. Cooking is an art and not everyone can be a good cook. People who know how to cook well, love to cook for their family and loved ones. While others who claim they know to cook well can cook for their survival. Be it cooking for passion or survival, one thing that everyone dislikes is chopping onions.

Onion is one nasty vegetable that'll make you cry more than all your breakups. And the sad part is that you can't avoid it because onions add more flavour, and taste to our food. While you may enjoy a delicious meal of biryani flavoured with masalas and onions, your chef knows the real struggle of putting the meal together. So why does chopping onions make you cry? Read below to find out why. 

Why onions make us cry? 

Onion contains a chemical called sulfoxides, and when they are cut into, their cell walls get damaged, causing the sulfoxides to convert into a terrible gas. That gas triggers your lachrymal gland—the gland that produces tears and causes a burning sensation. Hence, your eyes start watering as a defence mechanism to get rid of the gas from the eyes. But not everyone gets all teary-eyed while chopping onions. It is because some people have more sensitive lacrimal glands than others, causing them to get triggered more easily. 

Here are a few hacks that can help you with the tears

Freeze the onion:

Before chopping the onion, keep it in the fridge for 12-20 minutes. Lower temperatures slow the progress of sulfoxides into that gas.

Use a fan:

When you are going to chop onions, chop it facing a fan. The air from the fan helps in blowing the gas away from your face.

Wear goggles:

We know this sounds funny, but it works. If your eyes are too reactive, then wear goggles while chopping onions. It may look silly, but at least you won’t have to go through the pain.

Use a sharp knife:

The sharper the knife, the lesser the tears. A sharper knife helps you chop onions more accurately, which then damages the walls less and therefore delivers less gas.