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We’ve all been guilty of shedding a few tears making dinner – sometimes it’s because we know the kids won’t eat a thing, and other times it’s from chopping onions. Now Woolies is promising to solve one of those problems.

No, Woolworths can’t make your kids eat their dinner, but they are launching tearless onions, which are less likely to make you cry while you’re cutting them. First world problems, yes, but we’re taking this one as a small victory!

They’re called Happy Chop – Tearless Onions, available exclusively at Woolies stores in NSW, Victoria and the ACT from Wednesday this week until September, while stocks last.

How do tearless onions stop us from crying?

Tearless Onions

So, to understand how Happy Chop are less likely to give you a teary during dinner prep, you need to understand why onions make us cry in the first place.

Onions release a combination of natural chemicals and enzymes as a natural self-defence mechanism, and these ‘volatile compounds’ can cause tears and irritation when we cut into an onion.

However, these new Happy Chop – Tearless Onions have less of these compounds, they continue to reduce after the onions are harvested. In regular onions, the compounds actually increase over time.

According to Woolies the new tearless onions have been developed over decades using natural methods like cross-breeding existing onion varieties.

“I’ve heard all sorts of stories about how people avoid tears when cutting onions – whether that’s wearing glasses, freezing onions or wearing a mask,” Woolworths Supermarkets’ General Manager Fruit & Veg, Paul Turner said.

Tearless Onions

“These Happy Chop – Tearless Onions stand out as a unique innovation in Australian produce. Onions are a household staple and this is a great option for many people who end up in tears when preparing onions. It’s another way we continue to deliver on our promise to bring the best fresh fruit and veg to our customers.”

So, do they still taste the same? Apparently they’re slightly sweeter than regular brown onions, and can be eaten raw or cooked. They’re 100% Aussie grown, come in 500g packs for $2.50 each.

Will you be trying these new onions? Let us know in the comments below. 

  • These are a good idea.

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  • Wonderful idea, not sure about the cost but would give them a try!!

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  • Yes great idea but way too expensive will just stay with my good old teary onions

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  • I heard keeping them in the fridge reduces tears

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  • I don’t think I’ll be buying these onions due to the cost. Will have to try a few of the suggestions that have been written here to stop the tears.

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  • I place a piece of wet paper towel on the chopping board next to where I’m chopping and that stops the stinging and tears for me

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  • I so need these. I absolutely hate chopping onions!

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  • I Heard about these of the radio the other day! Not sure they are worth the price? One other thing I heard is if you put your onions in the fridge it will reduce the crying – am yet to try

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  • Apparently cutting with a glass of water next to you helps as the scent is attracted to it. I’ve tried it a few times now and it seems to have worked!

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  • I’ll stick to crying at that price

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  • If only they didn’t cost more

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  • Sadly I cant justify spending more $$ on something like this…. back to using my partners safety glasses in the kitchen for onion chopping LOL

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  • I’ll be interested to see if they make me cry or not?!! Not worth the extra dollars though.

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  • I wouldn’t spend extra $$$ on this. I don’t mind here and there an onion tear and LOVE the taste of a good sharp onion. It’s said that they’re sweeter than regular brown onions, for me that would be a no

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  • We just use onion flakes instead… no tears.

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  • I wouldn’t be able to buy these because I live in WA but I was shown how to cut up onions without reducing myself to tears. The trick is not to cut off the end of the onion that contains the root section. You slice off the top and take off the skin, then you slice the onion until you get close to the base. Then you just throw the last bit away. Surprisingly it does work. Very handy to know when you peel a couple of kilos of brown onions a day.

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  • I was interested until I heard how much more expensive they were. We’re all trying to watch our shopping spend at the moment, so the timing is not so great.

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  • I don’t mind here and there an onion tear, it’s not too bad at all

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  • I only very rarely shed a tear cutting Onions, have no appeal for these honestly

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  • Don’t think I will buy these at 2.5 times the price of normal onions! Probably breeding out the enzymes that makes cry has probably bred out all the things that make eating onions good for us in the first place!

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