How to Remove Onion Smell From Your Hands, Your Breath and The Environment

Onions are a precious ingredient in cooking: we use them for practically everything, from soffritto, where they're a key ingredient, to soups and meatball mixtures. Moreover, onions are also an ingredient in themselves, as they come in different varieties, each suited to a different preparation (besides being eaten raw): whether white, red, or golden, they can be preserved in oil, sweet and sour, in omelettes, baked, and even used as preserves. Using onions presents only one problem, or rather two: cutting them can be a pain —they contain an enzyme, alliinase, which is highly irritating to the nerve endings in the eyes—and they release a very strong, lingering odor that's difficult to get rid of. The intense onion smell is hard to get rid of when you handle them while cooking, it permeates the air and surfaces it comes into contact with, and can even have a truly unpleasant effect on your breath. Don't worry, you don't have to say goodbye to onions: there are some simple, natural remedies that can help you reduce this particular side effect.

How to Remove The Smell of Onion From Your Hands

After chopping onions, your hands have a pungent, unpleasant odor that won't go away, even when you scrub them with soap. It's the same substance that makes your eyes water when you cut onions, and a series of polyphenols that the food releases as a defense mechanism when handled, that's to blame. So, how do you get rid of that lingering odor? You have several options, all natural:

• Use white vinegar to scrub your hands thoroughly, let it sit for about 5 minutes, and then rinse with cool water. Vinegar is an excellent odor control aid and can eliminate even the most persistent odors, including onion odor.
• Use lemon juice. Lemon, like vinegar, has many uses beyond food, including eliminating unpleasant odors: cut a lemon in half, rub it on your hands (also rubbing between your fingers), and then rinse with soap and water.
• Help yourself with baking soda, another "magical" ingredient to always have on hand because it can solve multiple problems, including disinfecting food and eliminating odors. In this case, dilute a few teaspoons in very little water until you obtain a paste, spread the paste on your hands, let it sit for a few moments, and then rinse.
• Spread some toothpaste on your hands. It may seem incredible, but this mixture is ideal for combating onion odor: after spreading it on your hands, rinse with warm water and you'll see that the smell has completely disappeared.
• Use coarse salt as a "scrub": coarse salt, rubbed into the skin, combats any unpleasant odor because it absorbs even the slightest trace of the food that causes it. In a bowl, mix two teaspoons of coarse salt and a little Marseille soap, spread the mixture on your hands, massage, and rinse.

How to Avoid or Combat Onion-Smelling Breath

Onions (but also garlic, for example) can cause a very unpleasant odor on the breath after consumption: it's the same substances that make your eyes water and are also responsible for the characteristic smell and flavor of onions, released during chewing just like when you cut them. Once digested, the byproducts of these substances are absorbed into the bloodstream, enter the circulation, and are eliminated through various excretory organs, including the lungs. How can you combat this unpleasant phenomenon? One of the most common methods is to eat foods that can counteract the onion smell during or immediately after a meal: among the most effective are potatoes, lettuce, spinach, lemon juice, mint leaves, and apples, especially when eaten raw. Another good idea is to drink a glass of milk or a cup of green tea, both of which contain substances that help neutralize the sulfur compounds in onions.

If you're at home, a good solution is to brush your teeth (and even rub your tongue) with toothpaste and then rinse with mouthwash: just like with your hands, the paste is ideal for absorbing unpleasant odors, and the act of rubbing itself will remove any onion residue left in your mouth. And if you're out and about? Keep a mint, eucalyptus, or other herbal lozenge handy: their essential oils are very effective at eliminating bad breath in general, and especially that caused by onion or garlic.

Remedies for The Environment and Other Surfaces

It's not just your hands and breath: the kitchen and the surfaces you use for cooking also become filled with odors, and onion odor, again, is one of the most difficult to neutralize. There are obviously a whole range of spray deodorizers to eliminate bad odors, but if you don't have any on hand, you can resort to some natural remedies using items we all have (or should always have) in the pantry. First of all, you can work on prevention: an old trick is to soak onions in water and vinegar for at least half an hour before chopping and cooking them: the vinegar, again, can reduce the food's acidity and dampen the odor. If, however, it's "too late" and the smell has already permeated the house, place a bowl full of vinegar in the kitchen and leave it there for a few hours: it will absorb all the bad odor.

Similarly, you can boil lemon and orange peels in water, fill a bowl with coffee grounds, or scatter perforated sachets filled with baking soda and lemon peels around the room: all of these elements have a very high capacity for absorbing strong odors (many of these tricks, for example, also work for eliminating fried food odors) and therefore will act as real odor-eaters. If your problem is surfaces, such as the countertop or the cutting board where you sliced ​​onions, scrub with a mixture of coarse salt and lemon juice, then rinse everything with hot water and the bad smell will be just a distant memory.