The spoof science prize two years ago was given to the company that discovered what is that that makes us cry when we chop up staple vegetables and which also pioneered one that will not trigger tears to the eyes.
Onions are a part of a great number of dishes, such as soups, stir-fries, stocks, as well as the toppings of burgers, which it is an undividable part of. The only reported downsides of onion are the facts that it makes you cry when you chop it and that it turns your breath into something dangerous.
The shedding of tears of a chef that chops onion in the kitchen can be left back in the past thanks to a Japanese company that claims to have produced an onion that is tear-free.
According to scientists, they have succeeded in disabling the production of a very potent substance the onion releases as the knife cuts it into slices, cutting down on the pungent fumes that cause tears in our eyes.
The House Foods Group has reported in a press release that the scientists have bombarded the brown bulb with irradiating ions in a course that significantly reduces the quantity of a certain enzyme that is essential to this course.
It looks like the scientists had supposed for many years that the chemical Propanethial-s-oxide was responsible for the tears, the Scicurious, a postdoc in biomedical study has explained.
According to scientists, the enzyme known as alliinase breaks down the chemical PRENCSO to pyruvic acid. They have assumed that it just spontaneously went from there to the tear-shedding Propanethial-s-oxide.
What is attention-grabbing is the fact that garlic also contains alliinase. However, this also very strong condiment does not make people shed tears when they cut it. Thus, the team of scientists from Japan thought that there was something else at play, the Scicurious went on explaining.
The scientists have added alliinase particularly to PRENCSO and they did not get Propanethial-s-oxide. This means that the alliinase alone does not cause the breakdown. There is another enzyme that is responsible for that, but it is missing.
The scientists have discovered the way to neutralize the smell of the onion by halting the production of this enzyme. This enzyme is produced when you cut the onion. This was accomplished by zapping the onion with irradiating ions. This way, by disabling the reactive features of the enzyme, the group of scientists has successfully retarded the chemical reaction that causes the tears of people when they cut onion and that also produces thiosulfinate, an ingredient that is responsible for the strong smell of the onion, which is its signature.
The spokesperson of this group of scientist has announced that they still have not decided whether they want to commercialize their tear-free onions.
The researches from this company have won the lg Nobel Prize, and it was handed out to them to honor the achievement that the organizers of this prestigious manifestation have found unintentionally funny. This has happened in 2013, and their discovery was actually the biochemical process that causes onion to make people blubber.
The other type of onion, the sweet red onion, is less pungent than the usual onion, and this means that this onion causes fewer tears when chopped on the chopping board and it also means that you will not have to chew an entire pack of Wrigley’s after you have eaten this type of onion.
This new bulb is also juicier, milder, and crispier than the ordinary red onion.
The House Foods’ current intention is not to make this new onion commercial. But they might decide to make it too, so until then, here are some tips from Block that will help you enjoy the cooking of this vegetable. You should first cool the onion down before you start cutting it, because this way you reduce its volatility. Then, you should use a kitchen hood for pulling the fumes out or you should chop it under water and thus prevent these compounds’ release in the air. You should try and follow these tips, and probably the only thing that will be watering will be your mouth.
