If you're anything like me, you can barely see the onion on the chopping board as a flood of tears falls from your eyes.
But the days of blindly cutting up vegetables may be behind us.
That's thanks to chef Erica Wides, who has shared her hack for a sob-free onion chopping session.
Advert
Social media users have dubbed her technique that she claims guarantees zero tears as 'life-changing'.
They don't call her 'chef smarty pants' for nothing.
The culinary wizard shared her hack in a short Instagram clip, uploaded to her account @thechefsmartypants.
Erica said she had been inundated with questions from her followers about why she wasn't snivelling every time she sliced up some onions.
Advert
"Now, the primary reason is because you know - I'm a bad ass and onions don't make me cry," she joked.
"But the true reason is that there are two ways to prevent crying from cutting your onions."
Her first golden rule is to use a very sharp knife. The sharper, the better, according to Erica.
Advert
She quipped: "The sharper your knife, the less you cry!"
The second ingredient to avoid bawling is to adopt the correct cutting technique, rather than just brazenly slicing the onion.
Erica explained: "What that means is that when you cut an onion, you have to cut in that forward, gliding, motion.
"So the way that you won't cry if your cutting your onions is if you push your knife forward and across your onion like that... see?
Advert
"I'm going forward like an airplane coming in for a landing."
Although it may be a strange analogy for this particular predicament, let's put some faith in the expert.
Erica explained that onions contain tear-inducing chemicals, which are released into the air when you chop into one.
Bashing an onion without any precision will crush the cells inside and release enzymes called syn-propanethial-S-oxide.
Advert
When this sulfur compound reaches your poor eyes, it burns. Oh boy it burns.
"So glide," Erica said. "Remember - sharp knife, forward gliding motion and no tears!"
Sounds simple enough, right?
People flooded the comment section of the post with praise for the chef's incredible hack.
One wrote: "I did this today and actually remembered to follow your advice. It really works! Well of course, you are chef smarty pants."
Another said: "Thank you so much! This is going to help me tremendously."
A third added: "Best tip of the day."
And a fourth chimed in: "Where were you my whole life?!"
It's certainly a leg up from sporting novelty onion cutting goggles in front of your hungry dinner guests.
Topics: Food And Drink, Instagram, Hacks
Olivia Burke