Tear-free onions hit shelves in Australia for first time

Australian supermarket group Woolworths has just announced that the country's first batch of "no tears" onions, called "Happy Chop", will be sold in stores in the states of New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory from July 12 until September.

"As the name suggests, this unique onion will hardly make you cry when you chop it," Woolworths Group introduces.

It took more than three decades to develop the new onion. According to Woolworths, when chopped, common onions release natural enzymes and chemicals that form sulfenic acid. This process is often described as a natural “defense mechanism” of the vegetable. These compounds then turn into a volatile gas called syn-propanethial-S-oxide, which can cause eye irritation or stinging.

But Happy Chop onions contain fewer of these chemical compounds, and the ones that cause eye irritation continue to decrease after they are harvested, in contrast to conventional onions, where the irritating compounds increase in concentration over time. The new variety is considered more “cook-friendly.”

“I’ve heard of the many measures kitchen staff take to avoid tears when chopping onions – from wearing goggles, freezing onions, to wearing masks… We’re delighted to be able to offer this choice to our customers so they don’t have to cry while preparing their meals,” said Paul Turner, Woolworths General Manager of Fruit and Vegetables.

According to Woolworth, the tearless onion was developed using natural methods, based on crossbreeding existing onion varieties. Not only is it less pungent, it also tastes a little sweeter than regular onions.

The non-tears-inducing onion variety was first introduced in the US in 2018, before arriving in the UK in 2022, and is called the “Sunion” onion.

The “no tears” onion was invented by Rick Watson, a plant breeder working for the German chemical company BASF. Watson began researching innovative crop varieties in the late 1980s, using natural techniques rather than genetic modification to create unique varieties.

Minh Hoa (according to the Communist Party of Vietnam, VOV)

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