How to cut onion without crying

Who has never found themselves slicing an onion without shedding a tear? It is a classic to have to promptly dry our tears every time we start slicing the onion. How then to avoid this unpleasant inconvenience? There are particular precautions and below we will see together, step by step, how to put them into practice.

Why do onions have the "power" to make us cry?

It's all about the chemistry! Specifically, the enzyme aligns is responsible for our tears, it is released by the rubbing of the knife blade against the onion and affects the nerve endings of the eye causing irritation.

Useful tips for cutting onion without crying

The first recommendation, although difficult to implement, is to keep your face as far away from the onion and avoid rubbing your eyes with your hands after handling the bulb.

The second recommendation is to use a chilled smooth blade knife or in any case passed several times under a jet of cold water while cutting the onion; the smooth blade, which ensures less rubbing than the serrated one and the colder temperature will prevent the release of alignment.

The third method is to chew a piece of bread slowly, before starting to slice the onion. This is a classic grandmother's remedy, as well as holding a sip of water in your mouth.

Another useful tip is to refrigerate the onion 30 minutes before slicing it, as well as divide the bulb of the vegetable into four parts to soak in hot water for a few minutes. Instead of immersing the parts in hot water, you could also try sprinkling them with a solution of water and vinegar.

Slice the onion without crying with the help of steam and lemon

To avoid that the alignment that is released during the cutting of the onions reaches our eyes, causing the tears of the same, we can heat a saucepan of water and make sure that the vapors envelop us while we are slicing the onion.

The same effect could be obtained by rubbing the cutting surface with a slice of lemon, in doing so we will also avoid that the cutting board or other becomes impregnated with the flavor of the sliced vegetable.