Onions in her food makes Korndog cry all the time, but it turns out the reason cutting onions make the rest of us cry is actually pretty terrible (sounding).
When the onion is in the ground, it absorbs sulfur from the soil. When you cut the onion, it releases “lachrymatory-factor synthase enzymes” into the air. That sets off a chain reaction that results in an airborne combination of sulfuric acid, sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide! Clearly, getting sulfuric acid in your eye is something to cry about! It is low concentration, so you’re not really in harms way, but that does sound terrible, doesn’t it?!?
Fear not. There are a few things you can do to help, one of which doesn’t require any action on your part. Some farmers are growing their onions in low-sulfur soil, which means the onion doesn’t have sulfur to absorb or to shoot into your eyes.
Aside from that, however, suggestions include:
Chop an onion beneath running water.
Turn on a fan while cutting an onion to scatter the sulfur compounds.
Chill or cook an onion before chopping it.
Use an onion chopping container.
Wear goggles or glasses to protect your eyes.
My favorites, however, come from my good friend Alton Brown. He suggests using a sharper knife. The sharper the knife does less damage to the onions skin, which releases less compounds into the air. After that, he suggests chopping the onion near an open flame (like a gas stove burner). The convection of the flame draws the compounds away from the onion into the flame, which incinerates them! How cool is that?
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Alton is so awesome!