How to Chop or Chop Onions Without Crying – Top Tips

Onions and shallots are famous for making us cry when we slice or dice them. This mechanism has evolved to allow the plant to protect itself from damage.

the onions belong to the allium family, which also includes garlic and chives. When cut an onion, an enzyme called Alinasa is released from the broken cells, turning the amino acid alliin (an amino acid that is not found in protein) in a substance called allicin.

The allicin It is extremely volatile and as soon as it is produced, allicin moves through the air, reaching the membrane of our eyes and irritates it. In response, our eyes secrete tears to remove allicin and we started to cry and feel pain.

Cut or chop onions without crying

There are many ways to avoid crying: stop the enzyme, reduce its activity, or cover your eyes with glasses or other eye equipment.

Since the production of allicin is an enzymatic reaction, it is very useful to know the optimal conditions under which this enzyme works. All enzymes need certain environmental conditions in order for them to do their jobs to the best of their ability. In the case of the alliinase enzyme, the optimum pH is almost neutral (neutral pH is 7.0, the optimum working pH of allicin is 7.5), and the optimum temperature is 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

Working under these conditions, the allinase will work efficiently to produce allicin. Therefore, making the conditions enzyme inhospitable can prevent or lessen the effect of crying.

Vinegar to cut the onion without crying

Adding an acid like citric acid or vinegar, or an alkaline ingredient like baking soda, would change the pH enough to reduce or destroy the ability of the enzyme to function.. We do this with pickled onions.

Have you noticed how they taste sweeter after only 30 minutes of marinating and lose their spiciness and itchy eyes? This is because these acids prevent enzymes from doing their job (unable to bind alliin well, they cannot convert it into allicin) and enzymes, which are themselves proteins, lose their shape and become denatured.

is loss of allinase function It also increases the sugars in pickled onions, making them sweeter (onions are high in sugars, especially fructose, and contain fructose polymers called fructans).

Don’t add baking soda to onions to try and play with the pH – the onions will eventually fall apart due to an unrelated phenomenon: baking soda produces pectin, a carbohydrate that provides structural integrity onion cells, and the onions will turn to mush. even more when heat is applied.

Cool the onion in the freezer

Since temperature is also important for the operability of allinase, chilling onions in the freezer for 30 to 45 minutes, or at least two hours in the refrigerator, helps reduce the tearing effect.

It’s him tower that I use at home. It takes a bit of planning ahead for the onion to cool (this is what my mom was referring to when she mentioned my inability to chop onions in cold rooms). It is necessary chop the onion quickly because, when heated, the activity of the enzyme increases. Also, as it heats up, any minced or minced onion will start to produce allicin, so keep this in mind: soak the chopped onion in a bowl of cold water or store it. in an airtight container in the refrigerator; This will lower the temperature and also prevent contact with air.

Avoid contact of the bunion with the eyes

The third option is isolate or reduce any air flow. Glasses accomplish this and are very popular with cooks, as are onion chopping tools..

If you’re wondering about the latter, many look like boxes where onions are sliced ​​or squeezed onto blades that cut them.

Here, the short preparation time reduces exposure to allicin. My grandmother used one of these devices when she needed to prepare large amounts of onions for her dinners, although I didn’t.

The number of onions (or shallots) determines how I will cut at home. If it’s just one or two, I can do it quickly, with little crying, and no extra steps. For the larger onions, I will pre-cool them. And for a lot of onions, like when I make crispy onions and onion jam, I wear glasses.