QUIRKY WORLD...No more tears as new onion guards against sour taste

BRITAIN: Store giant Asda has unveiled what it describes as the UK’s first sweet red onion, promising to rid shoppers of tears and bad breath after eating.

The Asda Sweet Red has “lower pungency levels”, meaning the flavour is less overpowering, fewer tears are shed when chopping, and the odour will not linger on the breath as long as a regular onion.

In an initiative spanning more than 20 years, farmer Alastair Findlay, of Bedfordshire Growers, personally tasted and evaluated some 400 to 500 bulbs per season to cultivate the new product. More than 40 tonnes of Sweet Reds are hitting selected Asda stores this weekend priced at £1.