I'm just chopping onions and I've never experienced anything as bad in terms of watering/painful eyes.

What do you do to try and avoid it?

Stick the onion in the freezer for a few minutes after you have peeled it then chop it or soak in water for a bit before chopping.

Chew on a bit of white bread as you chop.

I put my onions in the salad tray in the fridge and haven't shed a tear since I started doing that .

I'll try some of these ideas next time. Just finished the chopping and it was bad today.

Jamie Oliver used a snorkel and mask, but he’s a *@#!

A chef will tell you the knife isn’t sharp enough.

Some even say it's the direction you cut in.

Plenty of YouTube videos on the subject.

Swimming goggles

Buy frozen

good glasses

Whistle

Sharpen your knife

I always soak a kitchen paper towel and scrunch it up then put it on the corner of chopping board works every time for me. Something about the acid from the onion going to the closest source of water.If cutting more than one onion i just rewet the towel after each onion.

Put the onions in a bowl full of water and cut them in there.

A very sharp knife

I think if you rub an onion all around your eyes, there is a chance it may act like a vaccine!

A French friend of mine has a flat-based, ceramic bowl approx 18" x 10" x 6" deep. She fills it with water and chops the onions whilst they are underwater. She chops as many onions as she feels she will need in the days to follow. She then pours the onions into a sieve but retains the water. The onions are kept in the fridge in a sealed container until needed and she uses some or all of the water for making stocks, gravies, soups, boiling veg etc...It's an unusual thing to witness but it works!

Cut them in a bowl of water. The acids won't get into the air and sting your eyes.

Edit: Great minds, didn't see Mkmel's post.

Biggest mistake you can make when cutting an onion is cutting the eye/root end - go from the other end and you won't get anywhere near the same problem as most of the compounds that get released and irritate your eyes are only in the root. You don't need to faff with chopping in water etc. Then cover in clingfilm to store

Quickenthetempo wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 24, 2025 4:49 pm

A chef will tell you the knife isn’t sharp enough.

Some even say it's the direction you cut in.

Plenty of YouTube videos on the subject.

Sharp knife helps.

I’ve chopped 1000’s in my time. Only a handful of times I’ve had it bad. Doesn’t effect me at all now.

But yeah. Sharp knife. It should be that sharp you glide through the onion with not much pressure.

Great advice from Vegas Claret never cut through the root.

Vegas Claret wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 24, 2025 5:40 pm

Biggest mistake you can make when cutting an onion is cutting the eye/root end - go from the other end and you won't get anywhere near the same problem as most of the compounds that get released and irritate your eyes are only in the root. You don't need to faff with chopping in water etc. Then cover in clingfilm to store

This is the correct answer

I once had to an audit a factory that produced chopped vegetables for use in the food industry. They had a room called the onion room. Approx 30 women chopping onions on a massive conveyer belt.. I couldn't even walk in the room it was insane.

Sharp knife is good advice. Most knives are rubbish and just get worse.
However, if you cut an onion up three or four times a week then within a matter of weeks no onion will torture you again.
Like picking up dog poo or plucking nasal hair - gets easier every time you do it.

Nina food processor , never a tear here

Nina food processor , never a tear here

I do a lot of cooking from scratch & as another poster's mentioned if you do it often enough you become acclimatized to it.

Block your nostrils with tissue paper.

I don't eat onions. It works for me.

Tea spoon in the mouth is supposed to work.

I think that might just be because you’re “focussed” on looking like a ****, so don’t notice the allium pathogens.

I was shown by a chef many years ago a technique; first cut chop off one end. Cut a series of slices into the onion almost to the stalk. Once you have a grid of slices in the onion turn it onto its side and chop through it… hey presto as the slices fall off the core it is ready diced and no time for the acid to affect you.

Several doctors I know recommend chopping onions to help with certain eye conditions

The tears lubricate the eye and help in washing out the dirt and debris that has accumulated over the years.

This is described in some detail in the medical journal “The Joy of Tears” by C. Ani Tellum.

Perhaps we should embrace and encourage cutting onions for a better and healthier life.

Wik wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 25, 2025 12:41 am

Several doctors I know recommend chopping onions to help with certain eye conditions

The tears lubricate the eye and help in washing out the dirt and debris that has accumulated over the years.

This is described in some detail in the medical journal “The Joy of Tears” by C. Ani Tellum.

Perhaps we should embrace and encourage cutting onions for a better and healthier life.

just watch the first half of the Cardiff game again, that'll bore you to tears

Mrs Montalban is a professional chef and her advice is chop faster.

The technique Elwa describes is how the pros do it. Of course I nearly took my finger off when I first had a go.

Wik wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 25, 2025 12:41 am

Several doctors I know recommend chopping onions to help with certain eye conditions

The tears lubricate the eye and help in washing out the dirt and debris that has accumulated over the years.

This is described in some detail in the medical journal “The Joy of Tears” by C. Ani Tellum.

Perhaps we should embrace and encourage cutting onions for a better and healthier life.

C. Ani Tellum, didn't Groucho Marx play that role in a movie?

elwaclaret wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 24, 2025 10:28 pm

I was shown by a chef many years ago a technique; first cut chop off one end. Cut a series of slices into the onion almost to the stalk. Once you have a grid of slices in the onion turn it onto its side and chop through it… hey presto as the slices fall off the core it is ready diced and no time for the acid to affect you.

This is the trained method. If you want even finer, the Pierre White method is the one!

Dyched wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 25, 2025 1:42 pm

This is the trained method. If you want even finer, the Pierre White method is the one!

Thanks, I’ll have to look that one up

I invented the ideal product about 15 years ago ago called #KNIFE~GUARD. Think Heston Blumental Specs x swimming goggles with a soft foam insert. They worked a treat. If you do it dressed only in a pair of budgie smugglers then your clothes won’t stink either.

Other item in The Range included the Carrot pencil sharpener with no blade for making carrot ribbons and roses

I did try and launch it under the English Muffin brand name and had Nigella as a brand ambassador but she went all woke nonsense on me with that Me Crow Wah Vay business.

Currently working on #LIFE~GUARD range with Apple. It’s a category Killer with Swiss Army knife type applications and no sharps involved and a wearable body cam Mag Safe tech. My brand name is TECHNO TECHNO but that’s too PC so some people.

As you were
SD x

Also onions are the Devil’s food. Ask Marvin. He was a friend of mine on the nightshift at the ideas lab. Shame how it ended for him and Tammi though

I find that a nice bottle of Sav before chopping works for me