Chili peppers O-M-G!!!!

I have been cooking today a soup that I call not quite correctly "Mexican" because a friend from Costa Rica showed it to me, and it's made of ground meat and veggies including bell peppers and any hot peppers to make it spicy hot.

I however, since I don't like to cook at all I always used a dried up spices before, therefore pepper flakes.
Today I decided to be adventurous and went for a real deal- some kind of small shiny green peppers, I am not sure Chili or habanero or jalapeno, whatever - the point is, after I sliced them and put them into soup and did this and that, I started having a funny feeling between my pinkie and a ring finger in my left hand.
At first I didn't pay much attention, but pretty soon this area was ON FIRE !!!!!

Holy cow, I didn't know what was going on - I figured I must have burned myself with a steam while lifting up the pot cover and somehow not notice it, but how?? so I went and put Cortef on it (a hydrocortisone cream) but it made it worse!
What's more, I had to support a bowl with left hand and thus spread my fingers and bear the weight and by doing this I must have stretched the skin because in a matter of minutes the pain became unbearable!

Only then I realized if that was a burn, the redness wouldn't have spread further down the palm,
and it must have been the hot peppers. So I've sent my daughter to the computer to look up the remedies. Some were to put the bleach on the affected area but I was too chicken to try that, so I opted out for alcohol and milk. Another one was yogurt.

Well - cold water helps immediately but also immediately stops. Milk helps and alcohol helps, too. What's interesting alcohol doesn't sting or burn as I was afraid of, actually it brings immediate relief.
Milk helps even more, although in the beginning it's hard to say which ever helps better.
Both works pretty well, anyway. The relief is immediate meaning the pain from 10 is reduced to 0-1. Now, 4 hrs later the skin is still tender and it feels a bit "fried" if you know what I mean- tight and dry.

I have the whole new respect for the Mexican and all the world's chefs who cook with these little, hot, spicey, so innocent looking yet so evil peppers!

Risa

Oh No Risa!! That was the first thing I read when I looked into recipes for the jalapenos I grow in my garden- WEAR GLOVES when slicing fresh peppers!!!

Those burns are a bi*#@!!

I hope you feel better. Go invest in a big box of disposable gloves. OR...go back to flakes...lol

I'm pretty happy with hot peppers right now, at least cayenne. But oh, my goodness, they can be hell if they come in contact with the wrong tissues. Whatever you do, never, never, ever touch your eyes if you've been handling hot peppers! You will be afraid that you are dying. And they you'll be afraid that you won't.

Chris

Considering that I carelessly cut in half and extracted the white pulp from TWO peppers with my bare hands, I got off lucky.
I shudder to think what would happen if I got some in my eyes - thank God I didn't ! I believe you Chris.
I'm curious though, are you speaking from your own experience - I sincerely hope not!

Well this is the lesson I've learned well, and hopefully even in my M induced amnesia I won't l forget this ever...

btw the area is still tender today but at least doesn't burn anymore. It was still flaring up at times yesterday although not with the full force. shudder shudder...

Risa

Something I've tried for chilli induced pain is rubbing some oil onto the area. I just used sunflower cooking oil, it doesn't matter what, but the theory behind it is that the heat-inducing molecules are fat soluble. Which is why if you make a curry with cream or coconut milk it can reduce the heat of it, or drink milk or lassi with a curry to cool down mouth fire.

I once took a contact lens out after chopping a chilli several hours before. OUCH! I irrigated my eye with contact lens solution and it eventually wore off. Fortunately it was a relatively mild chilli. I hope I never do it again!

Amy

CluelessKitty wrote:Considering that I carelessly cut in half and extracted the white pulp from TWO peppers with my bare hands, I got off lucky.
I shudder to think what would happen if I got some in my eyes - thank God I didn't ! I believe you Chris.
I'm curious though, are you speaking from your own experience - I sincerely hope not!

Unfortunately yes. I'm quite a klutz sometimes.

Chris

WHen I saw this thread i thought that it was going to be about the Red Hot Chili Peppers!! I am a huge fan!

lol I wish I could have Red Hot Chili Peppers in MY kitchen!
Now, that would be a whipping cream sort of 'cooking' I wouldn't mind

Risa

nursebeth wrote:WHen I saw this thread i thought that it was going to be about the Red Hot Chili Peppers!! I am a huge fan!

I did too! Californication! I'm a big fan! Hope things worked out.