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Ah! The burning! The burning!
Aug. 20th, 2006 09:57 pmLesson 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.
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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.
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.
