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What Should I Buy For My Onion-Averse Boyfriend?
Good Questions

2009-12-07-Goggles.jpgQ: I'm working on my holiday shopping and would like to get an onion chipper for my boyfriend, who won't cook with onions because they make him tear up. I looked on Amazon but many choppers seem to be flimsy or difficult to clean.

Any recommendations?

Sent by Neon

 
 

Editor: Neon, well, we have two suggestions. First of all, if tearing up with onions is the only problem, why not bypass the flimsy chipper, and instead get a far more fun and practical unitasker: Onion goggles! These are designed to keep onion fumes from your eyes, and to keep you from tearing up. They look crazy, but they come in lots of colors, and we hear that they really work!

RSVP Endurance Tear-Free Onion Goggles, $19 at Amazon

Another idea is to again bypass a flimsy chipper and buy a small food processor. If I have to do a lot of onions at once, or if I need them in a fine paste, I'll use my mini food processor. Also, this VeggiChop does a great job of dicing onions. It's less powerful (powered by you, not a motor) and so it doesn't pulverize the onions. It's also a great tool for chopping other things too, and it's easier to clean than the food processor.

Readers, any other tips for Neon?

Related: Five Tips on How to Cut Onions Without Tears

(Image: Amazon)

Tags

Good Questions, Cookware & Tools, Silly, onion, food processor, chopper, onion goggles

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Comments (21)

I have those exact onion goggles and I love them! They work very well. However, my husband has a slightly wider face, and they're not as comfy for him. It's important that the foam fits snugly around the eyes to keep out the onion fumes. I feel like Ali G when I wear them.

posted by heather77 on December 8th 2009 at 10:40am
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a fan. a simple, cheap-as-you-can-find fan. point it over the cutting board blowing in any direction but toward you and you'll be fine. and not in goggles :)

posted by nico_forgot on December 8th 2009 at 11:21am
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Any goggles will work. Anything that will keep the fumes out of his eyes.
Maybe you could go over to instructables.com and build him his very own fume hood. It's very basic and involves a van that sucks the fumes into a carbon filter. It's cheap and easy to make. The true purpose is to remove the fumes from soldering, but I bet you could design a nice one to use while chopping and cooking as well.

posted by somewhiteguy on December 8th 2009 at 11:34am
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I burn a candle next to me when i chop onions, which helps out. Also my issues with onion chopping and tears were pretty much gone once I learned how to chop an onion (took a knife skills course) and got myself a good sharp knife (and keep it sharp).

posted by Melissa23 on December 8th 2009 at 11:42am
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a sharp knife is a must. also, chew a piece of mint gum, or suck on a mint, while chopping. not only will it diminish the tears, it also keeps you from snacking as you cook!

posted by lissac2412 on December 8th 2009 at 11:46am
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maybe you could cut the onions for him, then he won't tear up and you get onions? Win?

i do most of the cooking, but my wife seems to be effected by onions a lot, she can't cut them either. I don't even eat or like onions but I cut them up for her, because they don't seem to have any effect on me. It could be because I have contacts and the air from the onion has less contact with the membrane of my eyes, who knows, but yeah if they don't bother you, cut them for him.

posted by jmorey on December 8th 2009 at 12:01pm
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I am all for the food processor when chopping onions. I tear up terribly now when I chop them by hand or with a slap chop deal. I can't do goggle because I wear glasses, so a few slices and boom into the food processor they go.

posted by Bobette on December 8th 2009 at 12:17pm
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Buy him a super sharp knife and a candle to light while he's chopping the onions. If I'm thinking about it, I'll put my cutting board next to the stove and turn a burner on while I'm chopping onions. It really works! The heat pulls the fumes away from you.

posted by sjbreeze on December 8th 2009 at 12:41pm
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I light a candle next to the cutting board and that seemed to do the trick. I also just bought a SlapChop at Target. It's a silly name, but seems to work pretty well for small jobs - my kitchen is a tear free zone!

posted by jonnifer on December 8th 2009 at 12:54pm
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I'm extremely sensitive to onion eyes, and for me the solution was to use nothing but sweet onions. Onions have sulfur which is released, and forms sulfuric acid when it contacts your eyes causing them to burn. Sweet onions have freakishly low amounts of sulfur so this problem is avoided.

posted by ilovebutter on December 8th 2009 at 1:03pm
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We have those onion goggles. They work great, but you can't wear them over glasses. I can't see to chop without my glasses, but my husband uses the goggles occasionally.

I second the fan suggestion. Or, if the weather is nice you can chop the onions outdoors.

posted by mollyjade on December 8th 2009 at 1:24pm
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Seriously, the fire from a candle burns up the tear-inducing sulphur compounds in onions. Burning a votive candle (and chewing mint gum) really, really works.

I also second the knife-skills and honed knife recommendations.

posted by mschatelaine on December 8th 2009 at 1:40pm
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I, too, have sensitive eyes. A sharp knife helps. For a little while, having an unlit match hanging out of my mouth helped. But I found that refrigerating onions before slicing helps a lot, too! Warm things tend to have stronger scents, so it stands to reason that cold would retard the release of scent particles.

As an onion lover with sensitive eyes, I feel your pain! But keep trying! A roommate of mine who cooked a lot swears that the burning/tearing up sensation lessens over time. I can't quite agree, but a sharp knife and a cold onion do help. Good luck!

posted by vintagejenta on December 8th 2009 at 1:45pm
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I saw an episode on Good Eats and he recommended cutting the onions underwater.

posted by mirrorrim on December 8th 2009 at 3:07pm
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I second the contact lenses suggestion -- obviously, you wouldn't get contacts exclusively for cooking, but if you normally take them out when you get home from work, wait until after you chop the onions. I notice a huge difference when I am wearing mine vs. wearing glasses.

Refrigerating the onions also helps. They don't sprout nearly as fast that way, either. You do have to keep them in a dry part of the fridge though.

posted by angelala on December 8th 2009 at 4:29pm
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Actually, this article in Scientific American says warm onions will make your eyes tear less! I shall have to try this.

posted by angelala on December 8th 2009 at 4:32pm
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Cold wet knife, cut off the ends first, rewet the knife with cold water. If that doesn't work, goggles. (I love mine!)

posted by edava72 on December 8th 2009 at 4:55pm
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Sharp knife plus refrigerated onions. And don't chop them into too small of pieces if you don't have to.

Also, different type of onions? I usually find that a white onion is stronger than yellow or red/purple. Or maybe shallots instead?

posted by Kakugori on December 8th 2009 at 6:54pm
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You should get a Pampered Chef Food Chopper. They're very sturdy and very easy to clean. They come completely apart and you can get access to all of the parts you need to clean. If you go here (www.pamperedchef.biz/pcamanda1) and search for "Food Chopper" you can buy one.

posted by Manda2831 on December 8th 2009 at 7:37pm
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I'm really sensitive to onions too, and my lab goggles did nothing to help. They're supposed to keep other noxious fumes out, so their lack of efficiency worried me. Then again, the edge wasn't always flush against my cheeks as these goggles would be.

I chill my onions before cutting and it seems to work. That and handing the knife to someone else.

posted by superdaisy on December 8th 2009 at 9:51pm
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My parents gave me those wonderfully geeky onion goggles 2 Christmases ago, and let me tell you, they continue to be the best Christmas present I have ever received. I keep my goggles stored with my onions so they are easily accessible. They really do the trick, I have such a bad reaction to onions without my goggles: tears, redness, and my eyes feel bad the rest of the day. With my goggles, I am tear-free! The only side-effect is that my friends make fun of me, but I can live with that...!

posted by dianapappas on December 10th 2009 at 10:17am
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