British supermarket chain, Waitrose, has reportedly announced that it will start selling Sunions, a brown, tearless, and sweet variety of onion, from its stores across the UK starting next week. With the new variety, chopping onions will no longer be a kitchen nightmare that moves many to tears.
Advertised as a gamechanger, Sunions come with the tagline ‘not a single tear’, and have taken more than thirty years to make and perfect.
People have gone to great lengths to invent hacks that tackle the irritation caused by the vapors released while chopping onions, some of which include putting onions in the freezer, then soaking them in water, and even resorting to putting on swimming goggles.
In fact, John Lewis, the sister chain of Waitrose, even sells special ‘onion goggles’ for £23 ($31) that come with anti-fog lenses. Now, however, these hacks could become a thing of the past with Sunions.
Waitrose has claimed that this new variety is perfect for those who cook in the kitchen with children or have sensitive eyes.
A customer at the supermarket said that Sunions can become a versatile ingredient, as its sweetness adds perfectly to many dishes, whether its salads or hot meals.
However, Sunions are a lot costlier than the regular variety, with a three-pack costing £1.50 ($2), which is 50p apiece when Waitrose’s cheapest own-brand onions cost 14p each, almost three times cheaper.
The race for the making tearless onions was long and had scientists working on prototypes for decades. Sunions were first introduced in the US almost four years ago, and even reached mainland Europe after Spanish retailers had picked up the brand last year.
Germany-based agricultural giant Bayer was the original developer of the onion variety but after BASF, the world’s largest chemical producer firm, acquired a part of Bayer’s seeds and crop business, the variety is now owned by the latter.
According to BASF, Sunions have not been modified genetically and are the outcome of years of selective cross-breeding of the less-pungent onion strains.
Source credit: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jan/11/no-goggles-required-tearless-onions-go-on-sale-in-uk-supermarkets