Chopping Onions

Last week after doing the video on making Chicken Mole' I thought that we should look into how to chop, dice onions. For about 20 years I bought 50 pounds of onions every 3 weeks and probably processed 3/4 of that myself. They went into Enchilada Sauce, Pizza Sauce, on Pizzas and in Salads. 17,333 pounds of onions were processed in my presence. As all you know onions can be quite tearing, it comes from all those volatile compounds that make onions such a wonderful vegetable. I found that a sharp knife was critical. A dull knife smashes too much of the onion cells. Wash your cutting surface and knife often. Start by cutting off the top of the onion and then the bottom. Peel the outer layers away. You can now wash this and store in in the refrigerator. Once the onion is cold it won't be as tearing. Use the tip of your knife to yank out the root end. Half the onion and cut it into half rings from top to bottom, next turn the onion 1/4 and slice from edge to edge. We will go over this in the video. I have found masks, wooden matches and goggles have not worked. Keep your knives sharp, cutting board clean, onions chilled, use good knife skills and you may enjoy chopping, dicing and eating onions!