There’s an Easy Trick to Not Crying When Chopping Onions — Just Use This Allium

Nothing will ruin your eye makeup quite like chopping onions.

Just a few weeks ago I started slicing several onions in my small Brooklyn kitchen, preparing to caramelize them for a simple pasta dish. It was date night, and I was moderately dressed up, complete with the mascara I don a maximum of once a week. Three yellow onions later, my carefully applied eye makeup was streaming down my face as I reached for a hand towel to dab my eyes.

This wasn’t an uncommon experience for me; whether or not I’m wearing mascara, I always find the tears incited by onions to be incredibly frustrating. I’ve tried various “hacks” such as lighting a match, blowing it out, and then holding it in my mouth while I chop, or placing a damp paper towel next to my cutting board in an attempt to stave off the crying, but they never seem to work. Consequently, I was thrilled to find a permanent solution just two weeks ago.

I recently discovered the joy of cooking with Smileys, a variety of onion that — as its name suggests — doesn’t make you cry. With their flaky yellow skin, crisp white interior, and medium size, Smileys look just like any other sweet yellow onion you’d find in the grocery store. Although I was skeptical before testing them myself and learning more about how this allium was developed, I can confirm that these tear-free onions should be on every home cook’s radar.

Do these onions actually keep you from crying?

The short answer is yes. I’ve tested Smileys on multiple occasions over the course of two weeks. While chopping onions I still smelled the pungent and slightly sulfuric aroma usually associated with tears, but I never cried, and I didn’t ever feel a burning sensation in my eyes. (As a point of reference, one evening I diced four Smileys in a row to see if they would make me cry over a longer duration. They didn't.) Several other staff members tested the onions too, and photo editor Doan Nguyen said, “They did work! I was literally cutting up onions and holding them up to my nose and eyes to see if anything would happen.”

Why do Smiley’s not make you cry?

There is a surprisingly complex set of chemical reactions behind the tears that raw onions cause. Once you break the skin of an onion, the sulfoxides (organic compounds that have both oxygen and sulfur) and enzymes inside of it are released and together produce sulfenic acid. The enzymes of the onion and sulfenic acid then react with each other, giving off syn-propanethial-S-oxide gas. This gas is what wafts up to your eyes and irritates them, causing tears and burning.

To summarize this complicated process in a nutshell: once you cut an onion open, it sets off a chain of chemical reactions that produce syn-propanethial-S-oxide, a gas that irritates your eyes and makes them burn, although it will not cause any lasting or serious damage to your eyes.

Related: 30 Ways to Turn Onions into the Star of Your Table

Most onions become more potent over time, so if they’ve been stored for a while — which they often are — their tear-inducing properties may be enhanced. Falon Brawley, director of marketing at Onions 52 (the company that owns, grows, and ships Smileys), explains to Food & Wine that, unlike their painful counterparts, “Smileys grow sweeter and milder over time. Smileys will not ship from the farm until they have reached the point in the curing process that deems them mild enough to not cause any tears when sliced.” These onions are not genetically modified and were developed through decades of intentional cultivation. According to Brawley, “One onion breeder dedicated 30 years to creating this unique, non-GMO variety, a natural crossbreed of milder, sweet onions.” Crossbreeding involves breeding different plants together to produce offspring that possess the desired genetic traits you’re looking for — a process that can take a long time.

What do Smileys taste like?

Eliminating or minimizing the amount of syn-propanethial-S-oxide gas released by these onions has fortunately not diminished their ability to deliver a burst of aromatic flavor. However, they are significantly sweeter than other sweet onions, which are among the common yellow varieties available at your grocery store.

Brawley notes that “Smileys are much sweeter than traditional yellow onions, Smileys are candy-sweet with a crisp snap, similar to that of an apple. They also hold up better when cooking, and may store for longer periods of time in the pantry, thanks to their lower water content compared to traditional sweet onions.”

Related: Are Frozen Vegetable More Nutritious Than Fresh Ones?

To provide a point of reference for just how sweet these alliums are, I used three of them to create a simple onion and olive oil sauce for pasta. The result was much sweeter than what I’d expect from a typical onion, leading me to add more salt and garlic to balance it out. Because of their sweeter flavor, Smileys work well when caramelized, as the base for French onion soup, or in a sweet and salty onion dip for your next party. Thankfully, anyone eager to try them will find that Smileys are now available at several major grocery chains including Walmart, Publix, H-E-B, and Costco Canada. However, they may be sold out or not in stock at a specific location, so it's a good idea to call your store before heading there.

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