I use onions a lot in my kitchen but stinging tears rolling down my face while I chop my onions? I hate it!  I have tried many tricks to avoid this uncomfortable phenomenon including wearing swimming goggles during my chopping (that’s attractive) but recently I heard about a new trick and what do you know?  It works!

Generally, you should store your onions at room temperature (and never near potatoes or fruit because they will cause them to ripen and rotten much faster).  However, if you place your onions in the refrigerator 30 minutes to an hour before you cut them, the tears you generally see when chopping will reduce substantially!  Apparently, a cold onion reduces the “crying cells” a little slower so you can chop.  (Do not leave them in the refrigerator more than an hour because this may cause your other foods in the refrigerator to take on the onion flavor.)

I have also heard of freezing the onion but I highly suggest you don’t do that because the onion will not have the same texture when cooking.  Two other suggestions that I use in combination with my refrigerator trick are:

1. I chop my onions as near to my running stove vent as possible
2. When I have half of my onion chopped, I put the chopped part on the other side of the kitchen before resuming

Try these little tips and you may find a bit more happiness with your time with the onion!