Onion Glasses

How do I cut onions without having my eyes get irritated and water?

I cut alot of onions with my job and need help. I cut red and yellow onions.

Public Comments

1. Wear goggles while you cut them. And wash your hands right afterwards.
2. cut them when they are cold or cut them under water
3. Believe it or not chew minty gum! I never cry any more.
4. If you wear contact lenses, this protects your eyes from the gasses. But since you do this every day, you're better off just wearing a pair of goggles. Even if you chop them in a food processor, the gasses still escape and will make your eyes burn.
5. There are loads of "old wives tales" for cutting onions and preventing tears! None of them work. I wear wrap around goggles when doing onions. But also have the onions chilled too. It is us old ladies who even use onions in chocolate cake who don't get too bothered any more with onion issues.
6. Some people say to throw the onion in the freezer for a few minutes first....
7. If you cut onions under water or you chill them before-hand your eyes won't hurt because this slows the enzymes that make the chemicals that irritate your eyes.
8. you can also place a cup of water next to you while you cut the onions
9. leave them in water for about 5 minutes after cutting them in halves so that the irritating fumes or whatever get diluted and the next time you cut its less of a torture.
10. If I have to cut an onion at room temperature, my eyes water really bad too. What works for me is to store the onions in the refrigerator!
11. When I worked in a restaurant, I found that cold onions and peeling them in running water helps a lot. It's not 100% fool-proof, especially when you get really juicy onions, but works pretty well. When you actually do the chopping, stand at arms length away from the board. I've noticed that when people tend to cut and chop things they actually bend over and put their face closer to the board (so to see better), but that's the worst thing you can do with onions. Also, my theory is to have a sharp knife where you're slicing the onion quickly. With a dull knife it feels like you're crushing the onion a little as you slice which "squeezes" out more juice. With good knife skills and starting with a peeled whole onion, an onion can be chopped in 30 seconds. Not enough time to even shed a tear... lol.
12. im not sure you can do this in your workplace but martha stewart says to light a candle beside where your slicing or chopping the onion. hope that helps!
13. Peal the onion, cut it in half, then throw it in the freezer for 10-30 minutes. Or you could get one of those hand choppers, they chop supper fast, and they work great, plus you can freeze the remaining onions in ziplock bags for later recipies.
14. cut the top of the onion first and slice backwards towards the root. the chemical that causes your eyes to burn is contained in the root.
15. cut out the bottom part and discard before chopping, or try copping under water
16. put under cold runing water OR stick match stick in mouth i perfer the water method
17. leave skin on cut round end off then pull skin off leaning pointed end till last this keeps juices n the heart of onion
18. wearing goggles will help :P it may sound ridiculous but its a vapour in onions which make our eyes water on contact, if you wear glasses these will help slightly, but there are also many different ideas of things which may work, however i am not sure myself if they do or not, such as putting a silver spoon on your tongue etc. I sympthesise with you as I get REALLY sore eyes which turn into mini water falls whenever I chop onions. I hope I helped and Good luck!