On Oct 21, 10:21?am, "James Silverton" >
wrote:
> Phred wrote on Sun, 21 Oct 2007 13:51:01 GMT:
>
> P> In article >, P> wrote:
> ??>> Sheldon wrote:
>
> ??>>> "James Silverton" wrote:
> ??>>>>
> ??>>>> Popular Science of November 07 has a special emphasis on
> ??>>>> cooking. As far as chopping onions is concerned, they
> ??>>>> came up with a new idea to me. Apparently, refrigerating
> ??>>>> the onion 30 minutes before chopping cuts down the
> ??>>>> emission of irritants.
> ??>>>
> ??>>> Cooling onions to reduce eye irritant is a very old
> ??>>> concept but doesn't really work very well... much better
> ??>>> is to use a sharp knife and sufficient ventilation.
> ??>>
> ??>> I've heard that burning a candle very close to the area
>
> Fortunately for me, I'm not usually bothered by eye-irritation
> when chopping onions.A lot of things may help a little but I'd
> tend to agree with you that speed is advisable. Unless you chop
> beneath an exhaust fan, you probably wouldn't get very effective
> ventilation in the average kitchen. As a contribution to speed,
> I still think that one of those grid onion choppers are the best
> idea. Even I use one!

I don't think this topic concerns just one or two onions... takes me
like ten seconds to dice an onion... and I certainly don't need a
gadget to dice one or two (just something with lots of surface to
spread the fumes and something extra to clean). The rare occasion
that I chop a bagful of onions it's easy to get lots of ventilation, I
take it outdoors. Anyone ever check out a Chinese restaurant they
will notice that they do all their onion peeling and choping
outdoors... even a retard can figure to situate themself upwind.