Ah! The burning! The burning!

[fenchurch]

Lesson learned today: Wear latex gloves while chopping jalapeños.

I don't know what the difference was today, because I've cooked with jalapeños A LOT and have never had this sort of problem... but I ended up with some small first degree chemical burns on my hands from the things this time.

Yikes! And, may I add, OWWWWWW!!!!!!!

When it got to the point where it felt as though both my hands were on fire and none of the methods I'd tried seemed to be working (lime juice then soap then milk then soap again), I did what any self respecting geek would do and checked the internet for tips. My first result was for someone's blog... someone who had evidently ended up going to the ER because of "Jalapeño Hands" (although they basically told him to wait it out), and was filled with comments from people who had stumbled across that blog entry since then, while searching the net for a cure.

rackham found one cure that seems to mostly be working... slather hands with mayonnaise repeatedly until the pain stops (jalapeño oil is fat soluble, so the mayo will help whisk it away). My hands are still feeling a bit warmish, though I think it's stopped enough that I'll be able to get some sleep tonight. I may still wind up running to the store for some aloe, since I ended up with two spots on my hands where the skin is red and a bit inflamed (hence the suspicion that I've actually burned my hands).

And the really stupid part? We have two HUGE boxes of latex gloves to use while we're cooking... I'd just completely spaced them off (and, as I said, this has never been a problem before). I won't be forgetting those again any time soon.

Comments

[ayinhara.livejournal.com]

Wow. I cook with chilis frequently, but have never had the problem. Your chilis must have been particularly fresh and potent.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

That's all I can think... because I really do cook with jalapeños quite a bit and have never had this problem. What's more, I often cook with chili piquins (what I grew up calling boonie peppers, because they grew wild in the "boonies" (aka jungle) on Guam), which are infinitely hotter (they earn a heat rating of 140,000 SU), and I've never had this type of a problem.

[jasminelily.livejournal.com]

Heh, okay, I just saw this on friendsfriends, and I had a similar problem today (except that I was working with lots of dried chiles, and touched my nose, which felt like there was a hot poker attached to it). My savior? Sour cream. I dabbed it all over, and it really really worked. So if you have any, that might help you.

I'm definitely not taking out my contacts tonight.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

LOL! It's apparently chili pepper burn day!

It's been amazing how itchy everything has become this evening, now that I absolutely do not want to touch certain body parts. I've been working hard to avoid it as much as possible, even though I'm nearly positive the oil is all gone. I'm certainly not going to risk it!

The mayo really did work well, and then I put on some aloe and some neosporin+pain relief and even the small burns have stopped hurting, thankfully. I still can't believe how bad that ended up being, though.

[jasminelily.livejournal.com]

At least you didn't have to walk around with sour cream all over your nose! Let me tell you, when you start laughing, and breathe in sour cream...it's not fun.

[noseyroser.livejournal.com]

Holy CRAP, are you okay, now? What a terrible experience! I never would have thought to put on gloves either! Damn.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Yeah... doing much better this morning, though I'm still a bit paranoid about touching my eyes (there's some residual burning underneath my fingernails that's making me cautious). The neosporin really did help with the pain end of things, and the aloe helped quite a bit with the burns (you can barely see them today).

[deborahw37.livejournal.com]

Olive oil does the trick too!

I remember when I worked in catering trade a commis chef who went straight from chopping chillies to pay a trip to the men's room

poor bloke was in AGONY!

Much sympathy on the chilli burned hands :(

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Olive oil does the trick too!

Aha! That was actually next on my list of things to try, if Rackham hadn't come up with the mayo trick. I kept seeing the bottle of olive oil sitting on the counter and thinking it looked like it would work... and I'm guessing it would have been for the same reason that the mayo did.

I remember when I worked in catering trade a commis chef who went straight from chopping chillies to pay a trip to the men's room

poor bloke was in AGONY!

Oh! Ouchie!! This is why I was being very, VERY careful what I touched...

[makd.livejournal.com]

OMG! How horrible!! I won't touch the damned things.

The spouse - who was born and raised south of the border - uses milk to cut the burn. IIRC, the last time he cooked with spicy chiles, he actually cut them under water.....

[tenel.livejournal.com]

soaking your hands in milk helps out too!

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

I was going to say milk, too - the ladies who make tamales always keep a bowl of milk around when chopping chilis.

Feel better soon!

[rahirah]

Wow, I've never had that happen--though I seldom chop more than one jalapeno at a time, and I'm usually concientious about de-seeing them first. (Maybe you cut a seed? Most of the capescin is in the seeds and the ribs.)