Tearless onions are soon to be sold at supermarkets across the UK for the first time ever.
‘Sunions’ – which have been available in the US since 2018 – are on their way to Waitrose stores up and down the country, and are said to be a sweet variety of the vegetable that “doesn’t reduce cooks to tears”.
As unbelievable as it sounds, they aren’t the product of some form of genetic modification, and instead, the brand said it took more than 30 years of breeding less pungent varieties of onion to find a variety where the vapours released on chopping are not powerful enough to bring tears to the eye.
The company said the flavour in ‘Sunions’ develops differently to other onions.
The website promoting the product explains that: “Volatile compounds in onions are responsible for tearing and pungent flavour and the amounts of those compounds in other onions remain the same or increase over time.
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“In Sunions, these compounds do the exact opposite and decrease to create a tearless, sweet and mild onion.”
‘Sunions’ are said to be a sweet variety of the vegetable that “doesn’t reduce cooks to tears” / Credit: Sunions / Waitrose
Grown in Spain, ‘Sunions’ will set you back just £1.50 for a three-pack when they go on sale online and in selected stores from Tuesday next week, which works out at 50p per onion, compared with 14p for a typical onion bought loose from the supermarket.
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“We understand how a-peeling tearless onions are to our customers which is why we’re delighted to launch Sunions,” said Paul Bidwell – an onion buyer for Waitrose.
“Ideal for taking the tears out of the kitchen, the sweetness of this type of onion lends itself perfectly to a variety of dishes”.
As mentioned, ‘Sunions’ have been on sale in the US for a good couple of years now, but it’s fair to say that they haven’t exactly been received that favourably, with a 2018 review in the Washington Post describing them as very sweet, “sweet enough that you could sit there and eat them like popcorn” in fact, and said they barely had any scent.
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Another journalist who also tried them said they were “almost flavourless”.
Manchester has been named one of the ‘friendliest’ cities in the UK
Emily Sergeant
A new study has crowned Manchester as one of the ‘friendliest’ cities in the UK.
With reviews playing a huge part in the success of small businesses – especially in the hospitality and tourism sector – business insurance expert MoneySuperMarket has analysed more than 100,000 reviews of customer-facing businesses in over 100 cities worldwide to discover where the UK’s ‘friendliest’ places are.
Their new research reveals which cities nationwide attract the highest number of reviews that particularly highlight friendly staff and excellent customer service in their venues and attractions.
For each city, the reviews were analysed for mentions of friendly staff and excellent service.
Cities were then ranked by the percentage of reviews containing these markers – with the highest percentage earning the top spot for friendly customer service.
Manchester came in at a very respectable ninth place in the whole of the UK, with just over 50% of reviews mentioning friendly staff and service.
Other northern cities in the top 10 include Leeds at number six and Liverpool at number two, while looking at the global rankings, the UK dominates for friendliness – with four cities making the top 10, more than any other country in the world.
According to MoneySupermarket, the even spread of cities across the UK suggests that excelling in customer service is a national trait, rather than a local one.
European cities make up seven of the top 10 spots, suggesting that hospitality and friendly service are deeply embedded in the continent’s culture.
Featured Image – Manchester City Council
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Bolton man sets Guinness World Record for most fish fingers eaten in a minute
Emily Sergeant
A man from Bolton has set a very unique world record.
Nathan Davies, from Westhoughton in Bolton, is on a roll – first he won £98,000 on ITV‘s hit gameshow The 1% Club, and now he’s a world record holder.
After telling the show’s host, Lee Mack, that he wanted to break a world record, the 32-year-old has followed through on the promise he made on national television by claiming the title for the most fish fingers eaten in one minute.
The dad-of-two managed to scoff down 15 fish fingers in 60 seconds.
A man from Bolton man has set the Guinness World Record for the most fish fingers eaten in a minute / Credit: Guinness World Record
Nathan chose fish fingers as they’re a staple in his household thanks to his two young boys, and after first testing how quickly he could eat four of them, he decided to go for the official Guinness World Record attempt.
“I decided fish fingers was achievable given that I’ve got a few less formal eating records, so it’s up my street,” Nathan explained of his world record attempt.
Despite his impressive effort though, Nathan admits he was still a little gutted about how many he managed to chow down in the allotted time, adding: “I think I could have done more if I had let them cool down longer, but just happy to have the record.”
Nathan says it’s a ‘bit strange’ to have an official Guinness World Record for eating fish fingers, of all things, but he is ‘very proud’ of it all the same.
Emily Sergeant -
12th January 2022 
