Asda's new onions won't make you cry

Asda will this week launch a new red onion that it claims won't make your eyes water or give you smelly breath.

The new, sweet, red onion has been bred to be less pungent than other varieties: "milder, juicier and crunchier," says grower Alastair Findlay.

Findlay is a member of Bedfordshire Growers, a British farming cooperative that enables smaller growers to sell to the supermarkets. He worked for 20 years to come up with the new variety, which he's dubbed Sweet Red, tasting up to 500 onions a year to refine the flavour.

More than 40 tonnes of the new onions are hitting selected Asda stores this weekend, costing £1 a pack.

"Introducing the UK's very first sweet red onion is a fantastic achievement and like the USA, the UK has a sweeter palate than most so will appreciate the same tangy flavour, without the strong acidity of some onions," says Andy Wareham, vegetable buyer at Asda.
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"It's funny to think that prior to the 1990s, there were no red onions grown within the UK; however, due to the popularity and versatility of the variety, they now account for 20% of the total onions sold within the UK."

The reason onions make your eyes water is that, when cut, they produce a gas called propanethiol S-oxide, a volatile sulphur compound. This gas reacts with the water in your tears to form tiny quantities of sulfuric acid - which, as you'd expect, burns.

Thjere are ways to prevent this from happening. Refrigerating the onion before cutting it slows the chemical reaction, while cutting it underwater stops the gas getting to your eyes. Some p[eople simply wear goggles.

As for onion breath, certain foods have been shown to help counteract the effect. Drinking milk - specially during the meal itself - decreases the quantity of smelly compounds in the mouth, researchers have found.

Even more effective, say scientists, are green tea, parsley and - especially - apple, as their high level of polyphenols break down the pungent compounds in garlic and onions.

It's even possible to make ordinary raw onions taste milder and sweeter by dunking them in hot water or soaking them in milk for ten minutes before use.

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