Do your eyes water when you cut onions?

Some people have more sensitive olfactory systems. I think due to age and various chemicals people have exposed themselves to also contribute to the insensitivity.

Some onions also emit less gas. I for one, have to cut all onions out in the open air and/or freeze them so I can deal with the odor.

Yup.

I made some killer hot salsa the other day that had tons of onion, garlic, habanero, and so on in it, and just looking at the blender made my eyes water like crazy.

Poor little onions….

Yes, my eyes water when I cut onions. They emit a gas which, like tear gas, burns off the fat on your pupil, making them sting.

@filmfann You mean it cooks fat off the pupil, which is behind the lens, which is bathed in liquid? The tears come from the lachrymal glands which are NOT in the eye itself. They are in the folds of skin around the eye. Perhaps the gas, of which you speak, irritates the lachryimal glands. And, sorry, there is no fat in the eyeball. But they do make some people cry more than others. I can get through10 or 12 without tears, but then they flow and I just let them.

They surely do! But only if I sniff the onion aroma. If i don’t breathe it in through my nose I
don’t cry.

Also cutting onions under running water helps prevent that- but its really hard to do.

AND rubbing your hands with oil before cutting onions and garlic helps keep your hands from holding onto the smell.

I cut a lot of onions and garlic…..

Want to avoid crying while onion cutting?
Open the tap and let the water run.
It works for me.

It isn’t just watering for me, it’s stinging and burning. It sucks, but it doesn’t stop me from cooking :)

Also, just for reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onion#Eye_irritation

They usually don’t.
I guess that’s mostly because I cut them on the end opposite to the basal plate.

It depends on the onion – some make me cry, some don’t

Often they do and sometimes not. Sometimes they REALLY water…

Mine don’t.

Oh yeah, real bad. I used to wear my swimming goggles while cutting onions. Now I’ve found a new trick: hold a piece of bread in your teeth, and it’ll absorb the onion fumes before they hit your eyes!

Is that what it is @sliceswiththings? I’ve heard that before. Well, regardless of where or how I cut them, they don’t make my eyes water at all.

@MilkyWay and I are ‘pecial!!!

An old remedy suggest that if you chew gum while cutting onions, your eyes will not water. Works for me.

Put the onion in a deep bowl and fill the bowl with water and start cutting the onion under water !! The water will absorb its juices, that’s how it works.

Put it in a grinder or use slap chop if u don’t want it too fine.

Guys…I appreciate the responses @Ayesha and @sophiesword, but my eyes don’t water when I cut up onions.