I don’t even think it involves liquid getting into the air. It’s a very weird sort of accidental chemical weapon.
Though it does suck to get the liquid in your eye. I’ve made the mistake of rubbing my eyes when the onions make them water.
It’s much much worse.
I know someone who has these issues, too, likely due to the amount of fructose contained. Garlic too. Of course, they are also two of their favourite foods. 
Interesting to see if the change in chemistry helps at all.
Unfortunately if the fructose is the problem there’s no reason at all to think this will help.
Vidallia, Georgia 1000, Walla Walla, these onions, I don’t use 'em.
I always thought crying while chopping onions was one of those cultural references like carrots making you see well.
It was only when I had an eye infection and couldn’t wear my contact lenses so was cooking wearing glasses that it hit me for the first time. My eyes were streaming and it didn’t seem to affect one more than the other so nothing to do with the infection.
I’ve been using contacts since I was a teenager and must’ve never chopped an onion before I started regularly wearing them.
So moral of the story: if you want a more pleasant onion cutting experience, wear contact lenses.
Well sure. Who wants an onion that tastes all… oniony?
Carrots do contain vitamin A which is essential to vision but their ability to “make you see better” is wholly overblown because… well… carrots aren’t the only food source to have vitamin A.
Part of that myth of helping you see better can be traced to WW2, Britain and the US engaged in some misdirection about their secret radar technology which Germany had not developed. They put out fake propaganda reminding pilots to eat lots of carrots because it made their eyesight the best it could be.
I really think glasses make it worse. I’ve worn specs since I was 8. And I always seemed to get hit hardest and first by pungent onions.
Yeah, I have the same issue with garlic too, to a lesser degree. Never thought fructose might be the culprit!
Makes it very hard to eat at many restaurants. Though I did find a vegetarian Chinese restaurant in Seattle that was completely onion- and garlic-free, oddly enough. It was very nice to be able to order anything on the menu!
The cynic in me says that removing compounds that deter pests provides an opportunity for Bayer’s agrochemical tentacle to sell more pesticides.
Maybe try not anthropomorphizing your veggies then?
They’re just plants, you know. They don’t feel pain, or loss. sniff
Heathen! Don’t say that around my beautiful pepper plants. You’ll hurt their feelings /s
I really need to get back into growing bell peppers and tomatoes again. I miss the ability to just pick food off the vine.
I’m not quite there yet, still learning the quirks of growing plants indoors. Though after i got back from the holidays i noticed my habanero/bell pepper hybrid started growing a single pepper, which was a really nice surprise
you’re in for a hot surprise first bathroom break comes up.
When diagnosing this issue, my friend had a fructose tolerance test that showed her body did a very, very poor job of dealing with it in any quantity. She then went and looked up high-fructose veggies and BAM, it all clicked.
She loves garlic and onions, and every time she eats them in quantity, her intestines are grumpy for at least a day afterwards. Removing these from her diet helped immeasurably - though at the cost of some of her favourite flavours.
I recommend asking for a fructose absorption test (Hydrogen Breath Test) to see if you have the same issue - it’s dead simple - you drink a solution, then they measure your breath after a fixed amount of time to see what your body did with the fructose.
I’ve heard two schools of thought with these things when used to caramelize onions. One is that their higher sugar content makes for better cooked onions and the other is that they’re only good raw. I skip 'em and go for good old yellow onions when caramelizing.
I just buy yellow onions because they’re cheaper 
I use only yellow onions for cooking.
Oh, and caramelizing does not require additional sugar like some people seem to think that it does.
Challenge accepted
