Home cooks will no longer be left crying in the kitchen while chopping onions thanks to a new variety of the vegetable.
Called Sunions, the ‘no-cry’ onions – to go on sale in Waitrose next week – are a brown and sweet variety of the vegetable, launched in the US four years ago.
They are the product of 30 years of cross-breeding of less pungent varieties rather than genetic modification – but at £1.50 for a pack of three they’re not cheap.
We have come up with some other hacks to save you time, money and tears in the kitchen.
Ruki Sayid tries Sunions
It's the one chore that reduces me to tears every time, chopping onions.
But today I was one of the first to be let loose with the Waitrose wonder-onion, or Sunion.
Nervously taking one out and peeling it, the familiar smell made me wary as I made the first cut.
I tensed as I sliced, waiting for my eyes to start stinging and streaming but nothing. Maybe it was a fluke so I chopped another and even held it to my eyes but still not even a tiny tear.
It’s taken 30-odd years to cultivate the Holy Grail of the veg world. Maybe next they can work on one that also leaves your breath minty fresh.
Peel a boiled egg in five seconds
It can be frustrating and time-consuming to separate the shell of a boiled egg from the white. But one clever hack can make doing this infinitely easier.
Just add three tablespoons of cold water to a small jar, put your egg inside it then close the lid.
Give the jar a good shake, then remove the egg and the shell should peel away extremely easily.
Fuss-free blender cleaning
You don’t have to take apart your blender to get it clean. Just fill the gadget with warm water and a few drops of washing up liquid.
Fasten the lid on the blender, then put the blending function on a high speed for around a minute.
This will swirl around the washing up liquid and water, removing any food remnants. Once it’s done, give it a quick rinse and drain the container.
Mist your measuring
If you need to put something sticky in a measuring jug, such as treacle, cleaning the jug afterwards can be a real pain.
So before putting in the sticky liquid, spray the jug with a non-stick oil spray – like an olive oil spray.
The oil will gently loosen the sticky substance, making it easier to pour the amount you want your bake, and make the jug easier to clean.
Faster pasta
Pasta is a convenient meal, but needing to bring the saucepan water to the boil first can add time. Did you know you can cook it in a frying pan instead?
Just place your pasta in the frying pan, before filling it with enough cold water to cover it and adding a sprinkle of salt. Turn up the heat and it should be perfectly cooked in eight minutes.
Using cold water to start can also prevent the pasta from sticking together like it does in a saucepan of boiling water.
Easy garlic peel
To peel garlic without your hands being left smelling of the food for hours, try popping a garlic bulb into a jar, screwing the lid on as tightly as possible and shaking it for just 30 seconds.
The skin of the garlic will come away, leaving you with perfectly peeled cloves you can toss into your cooking.
Clean microwave
A fast way of getting food stains out of the interior of a microwave without a lot of elbow grease is by using white vinegar.
Just dilute two tablespoons of vinegar into a microwave-safe bowl of water, microwave on high power for five minutes so it comes to a boil, then leave for three minutes so the steam trapped inside the appliance will help to loosen the food grime.
Then, use a sponge to wipe down the microwave’s inside and turntable and it should be left sparkling clean.
