A Wet Paper Towel Is Key To Cutting Onions Without Crying

There is one kitchen task (aside from doing dishes) that no home cook enjoys: cutting onions. While you realize they are a necessary part of leveling up your dish, you don't relish the time you'll spend with tears running down your face as you prepare them. Thankfully, there is a way to keep your cheeks dry while slicing onions, and it's simpler than you might think.

Before you set your knife to the veg, grab a paper towel and wet it down. Set the damp paper towel next to your cutting station and go to town on your onion. The theory is that the chemicals that make you tear up will gravitate toward the water content in the saturated towel. Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? If you are skeptical that the same paper towel that helps your greens stay fresh for a week will stop an onion from making you say "Uncle," there are some reasonable explanations as to why this trick works.

When you slice into an onion, a series of chemical interactions take place. Various enzymes in the root vegetable are released when its cells are disrupted, releasing propanethial S-oxide. This is an organic chemical compound similar to tear gas. When the compound reaches the moisture in your eyes, it turns into sulfuric acid, and your body's defense mechanisms kick in. You start tearing up because your body is trying to flush away the irritant.

Setting a wet paper towel down can help draw this chemical compound toward the moisture contained in the towel. Some claim the trick works and the gaseous propanethial S-oxide is drawn to the wet paper towel like a moth to a flame. Some contend that because propanethial S-oxide is a gas lighter than air, it wouldn't be attracted to the moisture but many have found the tip effective. If you try it and the results are lackluster, there are other actions you can help take to take the pain out of cutting an onion.

While some swear by this technique, others have found it to be a failed solution to keeping tears at bay. If you try it out and fall into the latter group, there are a few additional methods you can employ that might help. One is to hang the damp paper towel around the front of your neck. In theory, this allows the paper towel to catch the rogue propanethial S-oxide molecules before they can reach your eyes.

Another trick some claim will help is something you should be doing anyway – keeping your knives sharp. The thought is that a sharper knife won't tear apart as many of the onion's cells, therefore releasing less propanethial S-oxide will form as you dice the veg. In general terms, every one to two months is how often you should be sharpening your knives anyway to make your life easier in the kitchen.

The Gordon Ramsay hack for cutting onions that will keep you tear-free and involves cutting the vegetable in a specific way. Instead of hacking off the root of the onion when you begin cutting, as many people do, leave it attached and slice directly through it. Because the majority of the chemicals that can make you cry reside in the root of the onion, leaving it attached while cutting it prevents some of them from becoming airborne.