Home : Kitchen : Cooking and baking : Crying over an onion

Crying over an onion

There are so many things that a woman can cry over. Why does it have to be over a stupid onion? I know many people love onions. I must say there are sometimes when I need an onion in a recipe. Onions is not really something that I keep supplied in my kitchen pantry. When it comes right down to it, I think I always choose to hold the onions. Just so I do not have to cut it and cry. I am very sensitive as it is and I’d sooner save my tears for something better.

I have watched my mom cut onions and cried a river. I have read about many different methods on cutting a certain side first and this is supposed to eliminate the crying. What do you know I just grab that little tearjerker and forget which end I was supposed to chop? I carefully observe both sides and decide to choose a side and hope I pick the right one. After all I have a fifty/fifty chance that I will pick the right side. Pretty good odds. I only have four onions to chop. What do you know, the first one I chopped I picked the wrong side unless there really is no right side. I have chopped all four and I just can not stop the tears. Maybe it is because I hate to chop them.

Well I have found a few more tips on tear free onion chopping, let’s give it a try. 

First is slice under water. Seems to me this one will be a little messy but lets give it a try. Ok this one seems to work a little better but still a couple of tears. 

Second is to peel the onion, cut in half and let soak in water for approximately 10 minutes before cutting. This one just seemed to delay my recipe by 10 minutes and I had tears twice for the same onion.

Third is to store in the refrigerator before cutting so onion is cold. I’m not even going to try this one (my onions are always stored in the refrigerator (when I have them))

Fourth is being sure to use a sharp knife. Let’s break out the knife sharpener. With a sharp knife the tears are still here. Same as the dull knife, but thanks, I did get a sharp knife out of it.

Fifth is to have a fan blowing the fumes away from you. It’s the middle of winter and the fan is packed away. I think I’ll just pass on this one.

Sixth is to try holding your breath while you are cutting the onion. I’m glad that I only had one onion to peel and chop. But I have to admit I could not hold my breath that long. Yes, the tears did fall.

My mother has tried these tips for me also. The one she found most successful is cutting the stem part of the onion while letting the root part in tact. She had five onions to cut and didn’t shed a tear. In my research I have read that while reducing the number of tears shed there is one sure fire method of preventing tears and that is wearing contact lenses. I can test this one too. Seeing how I was testing with my glasses on. What do you know, I did not shed a tear. I even had to peel another and another just to see if it really was working. I will be peeling all my onions with my contacts in and saving my tears for something more important.


Now to get that onion smell off my hands. Wouldn’t you know there is a tip for that too? To remove the onion smell from your hands, rub a piece of lemon in salt and then squeeze some lemon juice into your hands, gently rub the juice in, and then rinse it off in warm water. This also worked very well.

I guess my husband will be having onions with all of his meals.

Visitors comments

very unique Comments By: Lori on 2005-04-07 Reading this article explains why I cry my eyes out and my sister who wears contacts can chop away with out any tears at all.......   It worked for me Comments By: Sherri on 2005-05-15 The best of those methods that worked for me was using the water, but a bit differently. I cut my onion in half, and then rubbed the cut sides of each half under water--using my hand to rub one half at a time. There was a slime/film that I was getting rid of and once it was no longer slimey, I proceeded to cut my onion. No tears! Â