Wear Gloves!

[smarkley]

I was putting together Dutch Oven SW Style beans a while ago and when I got to chopping the jalapenos I did something dumb... I got them out, looked at them and said to myself, 'ya better get some gloves...' then the little red guy who sits on my shoulder said... 'nawwww... just be careful' -- I agreed, so away I go, happily slicing and dicing Well the kitchen was hot, because I just had canned some peach bbq sauce and yeah, I did it... I reached up and wiped the sweat off my brow... OUCH!!!

The moral? Don't listen to that bad little guy on your shoulder.... Wear gloves when chopping up hot peppers!

[FLBuckeye]

I was making the Controlled Burn Hot Sauce the first time and was planning on using the gloves for the habaneros but decided the serranos wouldn't be an issue. Bad decision. My hands burned for two days. Lesson learned. Just made CBHS batch IV with gloves on the whole time with zero problems.

[Jmoscrip]

That picture makes my eyes water just looking at it. I've been there and feel your pain.

[Huskee]

You never notice how often you touch/rub your eyes until you're cutting jalapenos.

[FLBuckeye]

When I was in the restaurant business, some genius brought in a bottle of Dave's Insanity sauce. I had no idea how hot it was (500k on the Scoville scale) and put a drop on my finger stuck it in my mouth. Bad idea. A waitress handled the bottle and there was sauce residue on the outside of the bottle. She touched her eye and it almost got swollen shut. I guess the fact the the bottle came in a coffin should have tipped me off. We had a regular customer that always ordered the nuclear wings. He called in his normal order and I asked him if he wanted some SUPER hot sauce and he said "Bring it on". I put 5 drop of the Insanity sauce in his normal nuke sauce and told him it was very very hot. His wife called 30 in. later and said he loved the sauce but he couldn't talk right then...lol

[Dewesq55]

I was stemming and seeding relatively mild dried chilis today for my Texas Red Chili cook. I didn't wear gloves. About an hour or more later, I rubbed my eye mindlessly and it almost swelled shut on me.

DEW

[Breadhead]

You can buy a box of disposal vinyl gloves at most stores for $5.00... Whenever I handle toxic food, poultry, hot veggies, hot spices... I wear vinyl gloves. They are so cheap I also wear them when I put lump coal in my BGE... So I don't have to go in the house to wash my hands.

[Dewesq55]

Oh, I have them. I just want wearing them.

[Jon Solberg]

OUCH! A bit of jalapink eye!

[Huskee]

buddum tissss

[johnsteen]

coat your hands with cooking oil and wash when done. never had a problem

[fzxdoc]

I always chop jalapenos and serranos bare-handed. In all these years, I've never had a problem. Some folks must be more tolerant of those hot oils that transfer to the hands.

But raw meat? My gloves are on before I remove the packages from the fridge.

Kathryn

[Guy]

Kathryn, I think you are right about some folks more tolerant. I have never had any problems with peppers burning my hands but a couple of months ago I rubbed my eye about an hour after cutting peppers and I could feel the burn. It did not last long because I had washed my hands and time had gone by.

[bbqoaf]

hahahaha, that is one mistake you only need to make once!

[_John_]

Happened to me many times. When I was a mechanic years ago I got into wearing gloves, and ever since then I have a habit of putting them on basically any time my hands my get dirty.

[fzxdoc]

hahahaha, that is one mistake you only need to make once!

That's what I'm afraid of, bbqoaf. If I had ever had that problem, I certainly would have been more cautious. But I have chopped literally thousands of jalapenos and serranos and have never ever had a problem. That said, fresh habaneros scare me. I don't mess with them (but I love habenero based hot sauces), or ghost peppers either.

John, I even put on gloves when serving cake for dessert, just as a kindness to my guests. At least that's what I tell myself. Mostly it's because I hate the sticky stuff on my fingers!

Kathryn

[Huskee]

Did it once after stemming jalapenos for making my Orange-Jalapeno BBQ Shawsh, realized I work in a hospital and have to glove up about fifty times a shift, and we just throw out "outdated" glove boxes (regulations)....why not bring them home.... So now I glove up for most things raw meat and spicy peppers, very convenient.