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A cook I know always discards the core of the onion when chopping it. Is there any reason for this? In professional demonstrations and cooking classes, I've never seen it done. From observation, it does seem to make chopping or mincing the way I've always been taught a bit easier, as the core can be awkwardly shaped, but other than that is there anything besides personal preference to it?

justkt
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    it may depend on how you are mincing the onion. since i am typically only using one (cooking for two) i just cut off one end, skin, and cut deep grooves criss-cross through the whole thing vertically with the other end at the base. i then turn the onion on its side and mince through the whole thing leaving dices as uniform as the criss-cross. i have noticed no flavor lost/gained from either method. – mfg Aug 16 '10 at 12:33
  • possible duplicate: http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/567/how-can-i-chop-onions-without-crying – Ocaasi Aug 16 '10 at 13:39
  • @Ocaasi: The question seemed different enough that I didn't want to just comment it as a duplicate, but you're probably right. – Cascabel Aug 16 '10 at 13:47
  • @Ocaasi, even though the answers are very similar, the question origin is quite different. I don't think these questions are duplicates. – Mike Sherov Aug 16 '10 at 13:58
  • @Ocaasi - I'm looking for all possible reasons to discard to the core of the onion (or if discarding doesn't matter). Does it taste different? Is it just easier to chop? The cook who I know who sparked the question is the kind of person who doesn't cry when chopping an onion, so I doubt that's it for that person. – justkt Aug 16 '10 at 14:24
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    Have you asked the cook in question? I've never seen anyone do that. The only reason I can think of is for uniformity of dice. – Michael Natkin Aug 16 '10 at 15:34
  • @Michael - the answer I got was "I don't like the center," but I think that might be close to uniformity of dice. – justkt Aug 16 '10 at 15:37
  • Do you mean the entire center section of the onion, or just the root area? I could see discarding the dense, tear-provoking root area, but not the general center of the onion. – JustRightMenus Aug 16 '10 at 18:57
  • @JustRightMenus - if you cut off the ends, rotate the onion onto a flat end, and slice down the center, this cook discards on both sides the middle of each half sphere that results. – justkt Aug 16 '10 at 23:15

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There is one reason I might do this. If the core is green, that is starting to form a sprout. I cut that out as it can be bitter. Otherwise I don't know why one would do that.

wdypdx22
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  • I've done this as well, and perhaps always doing it can be a "better safe than sorry" measure. – justkt Aug 16 '10 at 16:44
  • @justkt - It depends on what the onions are going into for me. Like a chili or stew, I don't bother. But, if a saute for something more refined, I do. Anyway, 99% of the time it's not an issue as I tend to avoid sprouting onions while at the store. – wdypdx22 Aug 16 '10 at 16:56
  • I also do the same with garlic if it has started to sprout. – wdypdx22 Aug 16 '10 at 17:01
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The core makes you cry much more than the rest of the onion, if you're prone to tears. There's actually already a question about onions and tears, with an answer explaining this.

Community
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Cascabel
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I'm a chef and do the same but the only reason we do it is for presentation

Matt
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  • Hi Matt, welcome to seasoned advice. If you want to comment on another user's answer, you can use the comments section for that instead of posting a new answer. – Richard ten Brink Oct 04 '15 at 10:20
  • @RichardtenBrink I'm pretty sure "the same" just means discarding the core, so this is an answer: some chefs discard it simply for presentation. – Cascabel Oct 04 '15 at 23:43
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I was watching an Italian cooking programme the other day and the chef took away the core and explained that it is the most acidic part of the onion. Whether this is true or not I do not know.

Gregory
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