Why do I cry when I cut an onion?
On the plate, the onion is the perfect food to enhance flavors. However, when the time comes to cut it to simmer or simply add it in pieces to a summer salad, we start to cry. Not out of emotion that a delicious dish awaits us, but as a natural reaction. The reason is that the onion absorbs a large amount of sulfur when it grows in the soil (sulfur is part of the composition of the earth). When we cut it, it is released into the air, reaching the eyes. Sulfur being an irritating gas, the eyes become watery, red and give us tingling sensations.
How do I avoid crying when cutting onions?
Sunglasses or placing your face a good meter away from the onion with your arms outstretched far in front of it don’t work? Place the onion in the freezer for 10 minutes before cutting it. The cold will “freeze” the activity of the enzymes contained in the onion long enough for the time of cutting. From this stage, the quantity of gas released will be reduced and your eyes preserved! Ideal, right?
