Do you know this tip? To stop stinging eyes and tears when cutting onions, put a piece of bread in your mouth and let it hang out while chopping. Have you tried this, and does it work for you?
I had never heard this tip until I took that cooking class in Paris in the fall. One of the participants mentioned it, and so of course I had to try it as soon as I was in my kitchen at home.
Now, usually I wear contact lenses and have no trouble with crying or stinging while cutting onions. But if I am not wearing contacts, my eyes are extremely sensitive to onions. Sometimes I have to turn around and wipe them with a damp towel before continuing to cut the onion. So I was very curious to see how this would work for me.
I read a little about it; many people on messageboards felt that it was an old wive's tale and that it didn't do a thing. Others swore by it.
When I tried it for myself, I put a big chunk of bread in my mouth and let it hang out part way. My mouth began watering immediately, which was a little uncomfortable. But as I chopped a big, fat, pungent onion, I didn't tear up at all. My eyes didn't sting, and as long as my mouth was watering around the bread, my vision stayed clear.
I've done this several times now, with good success. I don't know why it works — but for me at least it seems to work well.
Have you ever tried this method? How did it work for you?
(This post is dedicated to my husband, who was a good sport to let me take such a goofy picture of him late at night!)
More on cutting onions:
• Five Tips on How to Cut Onions Without Tears
• Tip: Soak Onions in Water To Reduce Tears
• How To French Cut an Onion
• How To Dice An Onion: The Video
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This is hilarious. Even if it does work, I'm not sure I'd want to cook with a hunk of bread poking out of my mouth...
Then again, I'd love to see my hubby's reaction if he walked in the door after work and saw me cooking this way.
Funny funny funny.
This doesn't work for me. I've been doing this without knowing this trick, too, so no suggesting or placebo effects or anything.
I always imagined using a bigger piece of bread (is that from Tartine?! What a waste!) i.e. a slice of white bread. I figured that it was the surface area of the bread that blocked the chemicals emanating from the onion.
From what I've read, the gases that make your eyes water dissipate in water. I'd guess that having ... um, a bit of drool? ... while cutting might "catch" the fumes before they make it to your eyes....
I just keep a bit of water & a lit candle nearby when I'm slicing them. Does the trick.
I call BS!!
@starwitness what's a waste?? No, the bread isn't from Tartine, and yes, he ate it!
My husband has major issues with onions so he uses "Onion Goggles" that we bought at Williams-Sonoma...never tried the bread trick!
cut the onions next to an open flame. the fire sucks in all the air around it and it never reaches your eyes.
this is so hilarious. i can just picture me in the kitchen with a giant hunk of bread hanging out of my mouth. definitely still a skeptic, but will probably secretly try it soon :)
The flame has never let me down. I always chop with a candle near the cuttingboard, I've heard that it burns the gases that are emitted before they reach your eyes and cause irritation
I have the "onion goggles" too (got them as a gift after people witnessed me having to leave the room while others were cutting onions!), and they work great. My boyfriend always teases me for how silly they look, but I bet I'd look sillier with bread hanging out of my mouth, hehe. I'll still try this trick though, just for the sake of science!
I'm a candle guy (gas stove in a pinch).
Old wives' tale for an old wife: I've always just kept the root on while I chop the onion, and then discard it. It just seems to work.
A stick match will work just as well. Hold it between your teeth so the sulfur on the end of it is in front of your face. It absorbs all the acid from the onion. I use two matches and I've never had a tear.
There was a tv show that tested different ways of keeping yourself from crying while chopping onions (I think Food Detectives?). They decided the best was using cold onions. But really, whatever works for you.
this sounds kind of gross and uncomfortable. the first thing i thought when i saw the photo was "wouldn't you just start drooling??". apparently so. plus it must make one look like a doofus, not worth it to me. i wear contacts too but have always felt the effects of stinging and watery eyes while chopping onions, so i wish they had the same preventative effect for me as they do for you!
I have heard that keeping your mouth closed helps. Something to do with not getting the fumes into your mouth as well as your nose and eyes. I suspect this bread-in-the-mouth trick is similar to this theory. I wear contacts so I don't have much problem with it.
We passed up on an important comment here!
garylikestocook said:
This doesn't work for me. I've been doing this without knowing this trick, too, so no suggesting or placebo effects or anything.
If I read that correctly...why have you been cooking/chopping/walking around the house sucking on a big ol hunk of bread? Lol sorry, but that mental picture made me giggle and surprised no one read that.
every time another miracle stop onion tears cure comes out I roll my eyes. Its science and no bread in your mouth, keeping a bag of gris gris on your counter, or other onion voodoo will stop it. Its a placebo that works for different people. Personally as a kid, I shoved paper towels up my nostrils. It worked fine for little me. But the acid will form when cut no matter what you do. A fan will disperse it away and cold onions make it release slower. Thats about it.
Store your onions in the freezer. Always works for me!
Excuse me, refrigerator
open flame (gas stove) made me able to stop wearing my dive mask. it really works! also, cold onions, sharp knife helps.
I'm going to try this. I'll keep you posted.
Oh and candles don't work for me. I used to find myself cutting onions in Yemen during the nightly power outages, surrounded by candles and still blinded by tears.
For several years I have chopped onions while sucking on 2 or 3 peppermint Altoids. I'm not sure exactly why this works, but what I tell myself is that the strong taste and scent of the Altoids masks the scent of the onions.
Bread doesn't have the same pungent taste and smell as Altoids, so if it works then I'm back to square one with the Altoids explanation!
Rinsing the onion after you've peeled it works pretty well. Also, I accidentally found another good way- chop the onion on the table instead of the counter. Maybe the farther away from it you are, the better.
In culinary school, we learned that a sharp knife will damage the cell walls of an onion less than a dull one, which then releases less of that pesky gas that makes us cry. the sharper your knife, the less you cry!
refrigerator! i pop them in the fridge morning i plan to cook, and then no tears. ta-da.
I agree with other posters. Cutting carefully near a stove top open flame (my counter is right next to my stove), and it works great. If you do get teary eyed, what I find stops the crying is opening up your freezer and putting your face in the cool air for a minute or so. The tears really stop.
Or if you rinse them off after you chop it in half. I always cut the onion in half, take off the outermost layers, then rinse in cold water. No more tears....
Is it really so awful to shed a few tears over an onion? It's part of the experience to me. The idea of onion goggles is hysterical, though.
I use my swim goggles. They work perfectly!
Press your tongue on the roof of your mouth and breathe through your mouth... it seems like the bread forces a similar breathing, but you don't need a baguette nearby.
In college, I worked at a cafe and we used to put ice in our mouths when cutting the red onions. It makes you breathe through your mouth so the gasses don't get into your nasal passages and cause irritation. The bread idea sounds much tastier and more friendly to sensitive teeth!
Do like the pros do...
Learn to cut onions with your eyes closed, sissies.
Lol @ Chinfro.. Really though, a sharp knife does the trick.
I use shallots for almost everything, and they sting much less than normal onions.
I read somewhere that chewing gum while cutting an onion helps to prevent tears. It's kind of goofy, but I usually just chew without the gum while cutting onions and it really seems to work.
I also wear contacts and rarely have a problem. But when I wear my glasses, I usually just let the onion tears flow...like someone else said, it's just part of the experience!
Never tried this, but I always turn on a burner on the stove top and chop next to it..works every time:)
I also use my swim goggles, I have been storing them in my silverware drawer for years. Does the trick! And yes, shedding a few tears over an onion IS that bad. Its not just the tears, its the stinging, I normally have to leave the room (or the entire floor).
I am ridiculously sensitive to onions. I end up gushing tears, sneezing, sniffling...all of the unhealthy stuff around cooking. I use goggles. My husband thinks it is silly (and cute - thanks, hubs), but it WORKS!
hmmm.
I have never heard of the bread or candle tricks. I will have to try them, because I was thinking of asking for the goofy goggles for xmas.
Put the onion in the freezer for 15 minutes prior to chopping. This will prevent a ton of tears.
I've tried this and the match trick. Neither work! I'm convinced these are old wives tales. I'm extremely sensitive to onions --I'll be blind in under 30 seconds without some help. I have a pair of welding goggles (with clear lenses), they are the only thing that works!
mcb1223 is right...you need to breathe through your mouth, not your nose. Breathing through my nose causes instant stinging and tears...for me it's really bad. Breathing through the mouth will buy me about 2 minutes...then the tears start. I just try to be a really fast chopper in those 2 minutes. I think this bread trick is designed to keep your mouth open.
@jmorri26
How can you cook without helping yourself to some of the ingredients, right? Just a habit of mine, I guess, and happens to be a coincidence here. I'd have an extra large piece in my mouth, too, so I can keep eating it without interrupting what I'm doing with my hands.
Granted, it's not exactly just leaving it hanging there in my mouth... but if the theories about drooling are correct, I'll assure you I'm drooling.
I remember seeing on one of those old kiddie science shows (Beakman's World? Bill Nye?) that goggles don't actually work for cutting onions. The fumes from the onion go in your nose, anyway, and everything's connected.
No way!
I am super sensitive to onions, too. Even if my husband cuts them up while I'm in the living room, my eyes will burn for at least an hour. I tried goggles the other night and that didn't even work. I'll try the open flame and the bread at some point soon. I love onions and cook with them several times a week... There's got to be *something* I can do!... Right?
I keep a bag of frozen diced onions in the freezer bc neither the hubby or I can take cutting onions.
In the last year or so I have had a new gained sensitivity to onions. When I cut them I cry and my eyes burn. I have tried to wear my glass, to freeze the onion, everything. No luck. Today I was cutting leeks and onions and gave this a try. I would say it was 90% effective. I'll take that!
I know the gum thing doesn't work for me! I chew gum all the time. I heard the running water was supposed to help but it didn't for me, I'm not sure if it was supposed to be cold or hot water so maybe that's where I went wrong.
The breathing through your mouth part is interesting. If that's correct, that could explain why it wouldn't work for some people, like garyLikesToCook because you'd have to breath through your nose while eating.
I've chopped onions with a spoon in my mouth and if you remember to put it in before you start it works. It's quite tricky though keeping the spoon in, even if it's a teaspoon.
I think I'll have a go at the piece of bread instead though!
my friend posted this on reader, so i thought i'd repost my comment here for your educational benefit:
urban wives tale! the watery, burning eyes come from the formation of sulfuric acid in your eyes as the water surrounding your eyes reacts with the hydrogen sulfate that is released from the onion (most concentrated in the root). best solution? cut the onion then wash with water to quench the H2S, or you can cut the onion cold as it slows down molecular motion and release of the gases. combine the two and never cry again, crybag.
i was told my a medical school classmate of my wife that chewing gum while cutting an onion stopped the crying. I was skeptical so I tried it out and it seems to work pretty well... no crying but a little irritation, definitely less than normal though. At least you won't look ridiculous with a loaf of bread hanging out of your mouth.
My 80-yo Sicilian mother taught me the bread-in-mouth trick...but she never said anything about a hunk of bread hanging out of your mouth! A bite-sized chunk that allows you to close your lips will suffice.
Ice under the tongue works. My polish girlfriend taught me that one.
I can't be the only one who notices this: the contact lens.
With my contacts in I can cut, slice and dice pounds of onions without an issue. With my glasses on, I have to put my head in the freezer - which doesn't work for long.
Use a sharp knife. Problem solved.
Nigella's express trick: use spring onions wherever possible and use scissors to snip them into the dish. When you need a whole onion, well... I hope you have a food processor. =P
I had limited success, but I probably just needed to use more bread a la this.
I tried it and it worked! I was finally able to chop an onion without tears streaming down my face...or tanning goggles, not that I've used that method. :)
It helps to distinguish the old wive's tales from tricks that actually work if you know why onions make you "cry" in the first place. Here's a VERY simple explanation along with tips that actually work thanks to science.
http://modernmaam.com/?p=226
It works because your body thinks you are going to eat the bread, therefor making your mouth water, and if you mouth is watering, then your eyes cannot water because your mouth is using all the water.
I'mNotSmart.
I use swimming goggles! My sister laughs like anything, but at least it keeps the gas from irritating my eyes.
who freaking cares if you look stupid? are you modeling or cooking? if it works, do it. I'd stand on my head & sing freaking Yankee Doodle, if I could cut onions without feeling like my eyeballs were on fire, never mind the buckets of tears. I LOVE onions! I'd try anything if it worked, regardless of how I looked.
I just wear my sunglasses and keep a small fan in the kitchen. I cook with onions almost daily and I never tear up as long as I have those two things.