Simon Kaufman
Why do our taste buds change over time?
Your tongue is filled with taste buds — as many as 10,000 when you’re born. But those aren’t the little dots you can see.
LEARN MOREPosted: 4:04 p.m. EST Feb 23, 2023
Ever made a meal so good it brought you to tears? If it was onion-heavy — the waterworks might have started before your first bite.
But why does cutting onions make us cry? It’s part of their defense system meant to keep underground crawlers from eating them. Onions release certain enzymes and molecules when you cut into them.
These come together to create sulfinic acids and then create a gas called syn-Propanethial S-oxide. This is a lachrymatory agent — that’s a big fancy word that means it triggers tears. When this gas touches the outside layer of your eyeball it turns into sulfuric acid — irritating your eye.
When it's irritated, your eye produces reflexive tears to push the acid out.
It might sting, but there’s no harm in a few onion tears.
If you really can’t stand the "onion boo-hoos" there are a few tricks to prevent them. If you cool your onions in the fridge before chopping them, it can help slow down the process that makes them tear-inducing. Another trick is cutting them in water — which will dilute the acids. But these tricks can change the onion’s taste.
Scientists at Bayer have experimented with tear-less onions, but some say they don’t taste as good as the originals.
So if you can’t take some tears — you might want to get out of the kitchen.
