When the MIL is around, I never have to peel onions or garlic. I hardly ever have to cook. Now that she is overseas for several months, I am in charged of the kitchen. I so hate to peel and chop garlic and onions. I hate the smell that lingers on my my fingers after the job is done. Now that I have a part-time maid who comes in the evening to help me, I will leave the job of peeling and chopping onions and garlic to her. Bless her for that! In the morning when I have to cook lunch, I will avoid meals that have onions and garlic in them 😀
Yesterday the girls told me that they wanted bread pizza for lunch today. Their wish is my command, so this morning, I had to chop some onions and darn it, those big Bombay onions made me teared really badly! It was so bad that I could barely open my eyes and the tears were dribbling out so generously from my eyes that I was afraid that I would get blinded by the tears and chop off my fingers! Once I was done chopping the onions and meat, I went straight to my PC and googled for tips on how to chop onions without tears haha!
So if you are just like me, here goes the tips…
1) Use a very sharp knife when cutting onions. The enzymes are released when cells are broken or crushed; using a sharp knife slices through the onion rather than crushing and thus, fewer enzymes are released.
2) Chill your onions in the freezer for 10 – 15 minutes before cutting them. This reduces the amount of the acid enzyme released into the air. This was found to be the most effective way to reduce tears by the television program Food Detectives.
3) Wear gas tight goggles or a mask.
4) Wear contact lenses. They create a barrier between the surface of your eyes and the gas.
5) Cut the onion under water.
6) Cut the onion near running water or a cloud of steam. Steam from a kettle or pan of water will do the trick.
7) Breathe through your mouth (to draw the gas over your wet tongue) or stick your tongue out.
8) Put vinegar on the chopping board. The acid denatures the enzyme.
9) Soak the onion in water. The enzyme is denatured by the water-air boundary.
10) Soak the onion in salt water. The ionic solution denatures the enzyme.
11) The candle method. Light a candle and set it near the cutting board before cutting the onion. The gas released by the onion is drawn into the flame of a candle.
12) Point away from the tubes. Because onion “flesh” is tubular in construction, pointing the tubes away from you while cutting will keep the onion from spraying in your eyes. Of course, a breeze of any kind can send the fine, misty spray toward your eyes, so pay attention to air currents too.
13) Whistle while you work. Whistling makes a significant airflow, specifically away from your face, which keeps the onion mist away from your eyes. Just pick a catchy tune that you won’t want to stop whistling and you can cut as many onions as you need.
14) Chew bread or gum. Many people report that chewing, especially gum, helps avoid tears when cutting onions.
Do you have any other method that works pretty well too?
No. of times viewed = 913