Weird! Introducing the Sunion, an Onion That Doesn’t Make You Cry When You Chop It

If you’ve ever had to chop an onion, you probably know that it’s one of the most annoying cooking experiences. It just fills your eyes with tears and, apart from wearing goggles, there’s not too much you can do about it. Scientists and farmers have been working on a solution to this problem for decades, and they’ve apparently come up with a tearless onion.

Called the “Sunion”, this new vegetable is the result of a natural cross-breeding program that’s been going on farms in Nevada and Washington since the 1980s, which should put consumers worried about genetically-modified produce at ease. It’s supposedly a sweet, mild-tasting onion that doesn’t leave that strong, pungent aftertaste, but what really sets it apart from most other onion varieties is that it doesn’t cause teary eyes when it’s chopped.

When you cut into a normal onion, it releases a volatile compound called lachrymatory-factor synthase, and when that hits your eyes, your body produces tears to reduce irritation. Now, the interesting thing about regular onions is that the amounts of lachrymatory-factor synthase increase the longer the vegetables are stored, so the older they, the more you cry. In Sunions, on the other hand, the levels of that annoying volatile compound drop the more time goes by, until it no longer has any effect on your eyes when you cut it.

That’s what Sunion growers are claiming anyway, but reports from those lucky enough to have tried them seem to confirm these claims.