--- title: There's Now an Onion That Doesn't Make You Cry: The Asda Sweet Red description: A British supermarket chain claims it has successfully developed a no-tears onion. canonical: https://time.com/3702533/onion-cry-no-tears-asda-sweet-red/ author: Helen Regan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-10T09:20:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:48:03.750Z og:title: There's Now an Onion That Doesn't Make You Cry og:description: *sheds tears of gratitude* og:url: https://time.com/3702533/onion-cry-no-tears-asda-sweet-red/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: There's Now an Onion That Doesn't Make You Cry twitter:description: *sheds tears of gratitude* twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # There's Now an Onion That Doesn't Make You Cry by [Helen Regan](https://time.com/author/helen-regan/) ## Helen Regan Feb 10, 2015 9:20 AM UTC by [Helen Regan](https://time.com/author/helen-regan/) ## Helen Regan Feb 10, 2015 9:20 AM UTC A U.K. supermarket operator claims it has introduced the ingredient that many home cooks have been longing for: a no-tears onion. Asda’s [website](http://your.asda.com/news-and-blogs/no-more-tears-with-the-first-new-sweet-red-onion) says the onion, called an Asda Sweet Red, has been selectively bred to have “lower pungency levels” than regular onions, meaning fewer tears will be shed when chopping and the odor won’t linger on your breath for quite as long. The onion has been 20 years in the making and was developed by British farmer Alastair Findlay of agricultural co-operative Bedfordshire Growers. Findlay tasted some 400 to 500 bulbs every season in order to select those with lower pungency. His colleagues are presumably glad that his experiments are now at an end. ### 7 Foods That Taste Better Now Than They Will All Year  Kale: The cold-weather king, bitter kale is made mellower by the bitter cold. It can thrive in temperatures as low as 10 degrees Fahrenheit, Casanova says. Getty Images  Brussels sprouts: If you still think you hate Brussels sprouts, try them now. They're sweeter than summer sprouts, she says. (Failing that, of course, try frying them with bacon.) Getty Images  Kohlrabi: "Cabbage turnip" in German, this knotty, weird-looking root vegetable is a survivor. "Kohlrabi does not like hot summer temperatures at all, but thrives in cool weather," Casanova says. "Transplants can be put out six weeks before frost with an expected harvest in only a few short weeks." Getty Images  Mustard greens: The peppery plant kicks its way through the winter, and always tastes sweeter when it's nipped by frost. Getty Images  Parsnips: Yes, even foods that aren't green can withstand the cold. The pale parsnip, which looks like a yellow-white carrot, is best harvested after a hard frost, Casanova says. Getty Images  Cabbage: It may look like a delicate flower, but some types of cabbage can survive temperatures as low as 26 degrees, Casanova says, making it ideal for a winter harvest. Getty Images  Collards: "They grow best in full sun, tolerate partial shade, are rich in vitamins and sweetened by frost," she says. Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3702533/onion-cry-no-tears-asda-sweet-red/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3702533/onion-cry-no-tears-asda-sweet-red/"},"headline":"There's Now an Onion That Doesn't Make You Cry","datePublished":"2015-02-10T09:20:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:48:03.750Z","description":"*sheds tears of gratitude*","url":"https://time.com/3702533/onion-cry-no-tears-asda-sweet-red/","keywords":["Newsfeed","United Kingdom","food and drink"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Helen Regan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/helen-regan/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3702533/onion-cry-no-tears-asda-sweet-red/","name":"There's Now an Onion That Doesn't Make You Cry"}}]}] ```