Can you pull DNA out of an onion using supplies from your kitchen? DNA is packed tightly inside every cell. A few common chemicals can break those cells open and make the DNA visible. You chop an onion and soak the pieces in a solution of three key ingredients. Detergent breaks open cell membranes. Salt and EDTA protect the DNA. Hot water helps burst the cell walls. Meat tenderizer breaks down proteins that cling to the DNA. After filtering the liquid, you pour ice-cold ethanol down the side of a test tube. A white, stringy mass rises to the surface. That mass is pure DNA. You spool it onto a glass rod and lift it out.