RSVP Onion Goggles

There's no More Tears with a Pair of Onion Goggles

I'm the kind of macho dude who's not prone to tears, except perhaps when it comes to chopping onions. We share kitchen duties at our house, and most of my favorite recipes start with onions - and garlic, too. So a few nights a week you'll find me crying like a baby while I chop and mince. I've heard all the folk remedies - cut onions under running water, breathe through your mouth - but I just sucked it up and chopped away without a crutch. Without, that is, until someone gave me some RSVP Onion Goggles.

Onion goggles look a lot like Eurotrash safety glasses or fancy racquetball goggles in thick plastic wraparound frames. RSVP sells them in a boatload of colors, though mine are basic black with bright green trim. The no-fog lenses are slightly polycarbonate, with folding earpieces like conventional glasses. The noticeable difference is the thick layer of soft foam that rims the eyepieces and seals the goggles to your face. The combination of lenses and foam seals out the gases that onions give off; just like Johnson's Baby Shampoo, no more tears!

So why does chopping onions create tears? Science can be fun! Onions contain small quantities of the chemical syn-propanethial-S-oxide, which irritates the lachrymal glands until they produce tears. An onion's tissues contain the enzyme synthase, which reacts with amino acids in the onions (and other alliums like garlic or leeks) to release the chemical into the air. Get too much in your eyes, and tears happen.

Onion Goggles do the job for me. They're lightweight and comfortable enough I can wear them long enough to chop the onions for a pot of French onion soup. Even when I'm already halfway through chopping an onion when I remember to grab the goggles, they still work. The lenses are plenty clear to view the work surface, a good idea when you're working around knives.

A disadvantage is that while they work for me, they may not work for you if you wears glasses. The goggles won't fit over them. Other than that, though, I foresee plenty of use for Onion Goggles; and I don't have to look through my tears!

Summary

PLUS: they work!
MINUS: but not over glasses
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING: Forget folk remedies: if chopping onions has you crying like a baby, get your own pair of RSVP Onion Goggles!

Find Onion Goggles for yourself at eBay