Due to this summer’s record-breaking heatwave, Britain has produced a particularly strong and tear-jerking onion harvest. Onions have a well-known defense mechanism; when damaged, they release sulphuric compounds called synpropanethial-S-oxide to create nature’s version of tear gas. This is the stuff that irritates our eyes and stimulates our lacrimal glands.
Experts believe the crop on sale now is drier, meaning each onion contains less water than usual so the acidic compounds are heavily concentrated and more powerful. Alastair Findlay, of Lakes Farm in Bedford, Bedfordshire, said: ‘I regularly have different onion breeding lines laboratory-analysed and I was surprised at how much more potent the sap was – almost double those I measured in October.'
Source: dailymail.co.uk
Photo source: Dreamstime.com
