Hey there guys, I'm Jesse Crowe, The Travelling Scientist
and today I'm gonna teach you the science behind how you can cut onions without crying!
Over thousands of years onions have evolved a way of
protecting themselves from being eaten, by releasing an irritating chemical.
It's called Propanethial S-oxide, and when you cut an onion, it's released into the atmosphere
and it makes people cry... except for this guy
Scientists are currently trying to genetically modify onions that produce less Propanethial S-oxide
so they don't make you cry as much, but in the meantime
here's a bit of science you can use to stop yourself from crying
So I've got a few onions here and first I'm gonna cut this one up to prove that it actually does make me cry
So I've cut up my first onion and I can definitely feel it in my nose and my eyes
It's starting to make me a little bit teary
so let's try a few different techniques to see if we can stop that
So this first onion has been stored in the fridge for a few hours
and the idea is that the cool temperatures are supposed to slow down
the release of that gas to minimise the amount of crying
So I've chopped up my nice cool onion.
Has it slowed down the gas release?
Well I can still sort of feel it... but it might have had a slight impact
So cold onions in the fridge is one way to reduce the amount of crying
So the next thing you can do is actually remove the root of the onion
and the idea is that most of the sulphurous gas is contained within this root bit of the onion
so we just carefully try and remove that before we start cutting
Now that I've removed that core, that's taken away a lot of the sulphurous gas
So let's get rid of that
and then we can cut the onion like normal
and there should be less of that gas release so you won't be crying as much
Now I'm cutting up the onion without the root inside and...
I don't think I removed the root properly because I can definitely still feel it
So by removing the root of the onion
we've minimised the amount of sulphurous gas released
but there's still quite a bit in there and it's still coming out
so maybe that's not the best technique...
The third thing you can try is just cutting the onion into quarters
and then just leaving those quarters to sit for a while
and then coming back to cut them later
and the idea is that most of sulphurous gas is going to be released
over there, out into the environment
then you can bring it back 10-15 minutes later
and cut it up and you shouldn't have to cry that much
Sweet, so it's been 15 minutes
Come back and now I can chop up this onion like normal
and hopefully most of the gas has been released, so it's fine
Yeah, this onion has been left out for a while
and now I can breathe it in and none of that gas is there
because it's been sitting out and all the gas have been released into the environment
So leaving onions cut in quarters is probably a good way to do it
Okay the next thing you can do is
try wearing goggles like these fancy onion cutting goggles that I've got here
Now, if you have a seal over your eyes, the idea is that
the gas won't be able to reach your eyes and you shouldn't cry
Now, I know it looks pretty cool
And by protecting your eyes from the irritating chemicals that the onions release
you're not going to cry!
All righty, onion is chopped
Again, don't judge me on my cutting skills, I'm not a chef
But yeah, I do not need to cry at all
So there you go wearing goggles is definitely the best way to cut onions without crying
Gas cannot reach my eyes, so I'm not crying
Or maybe you just need to MAN UP!
Sometimes it's nice to have a cry and just embrace it
just get right into the onions, really enjoy the gas, y'know?
Let those tears flow, it's a good thing to do
Anyway, that's all for today guys!
Thanks so much for watching, I really appreciate it
If you liked this video, click the like button down below
and if YOU'VE got any techniques for cutting onions
let us know in the comments section down below as well
Finally, subscribe for more Travelling Science every week
and I'll see you guys next time.
Cheers!
What am I supposed to do all these onions!?
if you have any idea what I should do with this entire bowl of onions
please let me know in the comment section down below
because I didn't plan for this much onion to happen...
good onion recipes, chuck them in the comments section down below
Like...just comment, c'mon, it'll be great!
Alright, I'm gonna go wash my face
Cheers guys!