Have you ever… washed your onions?

[NC6745]

I was today years old when I caught a glimpse of the tag on a 3 pack of onions that said ‘wash before use’. This has never ever occurred to me in my entire lifetime and honestly, what on earth! You peel ‘em, you chop ‘em! Am I the only one? 😂

Right!!

No. Why would you?
I am diagnosed with OCD and am very picky about hygiene but even with that I think this is nonsense.

That’s like washing bananas. Completely unnecessary

I do but only because I grow mine and don't wash them until I use them.
If they're from a shop then I don't.

I wonder if it’s one of those things they print on labels so that if someone got sick for whatever reason they can say ‘we told you 🙄’

I remember a cook telling me to rinse onions quickly under the tap after peeling. Not to clean them, but because it reduces the making you cry part of chopping onions.

Interesting, a family member who’s a chef told me that if you breathe through your mouth and not your nose you also won’t cry because it’s to do with enzymes in your nose. But that’s grim, I don’t want to taste the onions by breathing through my mouth 😂

I'm a bit disappointed - I was intrigued as to what euphemism this was going to be. 🤔

I wouldn’t be buying any with a label saying produce of the Netherlands anyway. Theres no shortage of U.K. grown onions anywhere I shop, and no, of course they don’t need washing!

It's not - it's the particles (whatever they are) reaching your eyeballs. There's a theory that leaving a bowl of water near the onions means they'll go there instead of your eyes but that hasn't worked for me! See also holding a slice of raw potato between your teeth

just checked. There are no such instructions on my Sainsbury’s onions. But no, I’ve never washed an onion in my life! 🤣

Wash all your fruit or veg… you peel the onion which means you touched the dirty peel. Then you touch the onion to cut it. Cross contamination. Same for cucumbers, carrots.. Pesticides everywhere.

Surely life is too short to wash the outside of anything that you then peel....?!!? Unless people are eating onion skins!? My kids eat mango skin so I have to wash those now.

I have never washed an onion…

I'll join you as I did the same yesterday.
Always have done it.

Not even carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, leeks, or mushrooms? Others I can kind of understand (and I don’t wash onions) but those usually have visible dirt on them! Or broccoli and raspberries which very commonly have bugs that need washing off?

I buy frozen chopped onions due to a combination of picky husband (he will tolerate them if they’re chopped finely which I’ve never had the skills to do), being lazy, and hating onion eyes, so we definitely don’t wash them here! On the extremely rare occasion that I buy an actual onion, I don’t wash it then either.

I don't think it's the bacteria that's the problem, but the 'Forever chemicals' that make up the fungicides, pesticides and herbicides etc. Grapes are particularly bad for being sprayed - around 10-15 times during their growing season.

35 years ago I was bullied by some girls for washing my onions during our cookery class. It was bizarre, as though they were offended by the fact I washed mine and felt like they were being criticised for not washing theirs. Very strange!

No

i wash red peppers, particularly if my dd asks me

i may wipe mushrooms with a kitchen towel but i dont think they should be washed.
i boil brocolli so dont see the point of washing.

Agree, it's definitely the eyes.

When I've got contact lenses in I'm completely unaffected, even if everyone all around has streaming eyes.

Leeks not from supermarkets often have visible dirt and need cutting lengthways, separating and thoroughly washing. Mushrooms have hidden dirt. I wash all veg and fruits, thought everyone did. They’ve been handled by unwashed hands, insects and small creatures have peed and pooped on them, chemicals sprayed on them. I know it’s said you eat a peck of dirt before you die, but no need to eat more!

oh definately leeks