Ms. Vanderbilt-Astor gets burned by peppers

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/115744725

Oh my.

NJCher (16,919 posts)    Thu Aug 21, 2014, 09:50 AM

Pepper burn: don't do this!

I was making jalapeno poppers for the party on Sat. No neophyte in the kitchen, I wore gloves (latex gloves--the kind medical people wear). I had a lot of peppers--maybe 2 dozen.
 
Cut off the stems, opened them up, and hollowed them out by cutting out the seeds, etc., mostly by using a paring knife and holding the pepper in my left hand.
 
I started to feel a burning after awhile, but disregarded it because I was wearing gloves.
 
Having completed the job, I threw the gloves away and washed my hands. I expected no problem. However, I had the worst pepper burn! I was afraid I'd get no sleep at all.
 
Needless to say, my technique wasn't the best. In some cases, I was literally holding the gland of the pepper in the area between my thumb and forefinger and sometimes I even used my (again, gloved) forefinger to help scrape out the seeds.

[after which a picture of a pepper]
 
'Round about 1:45 a.m., I was trying every internet remedy out there and not a one of them worked: soak affected area in milk, use vaseline, soap and water, burn medications (that actually made it worse).
 
What was interesting was that most people who complained of this problem used no gloves. I used gloves and still had a pepper burn.
 
I did notice that an ice block helped and so that is how I went to sleep--holding on to one of those frozen blocks one uses in an ice chest. In fact, this is a terrific way to stay cool, so I'll be using this technique again, regardless of any capsaican burn.
 
If I had it to do over again, I'd wear thicker gloves, despite the fact this would limit agility. In addition, I'd hold the pepper down on a plate with tongs and I would use a grapefruit spoon to scrape out the pepper.
 
I would limit handling them as much as possible with my hands.

This morning I'm much better but relief only came around 9 a.m.

NRaleighLiberal (34,863 posts)    Thu Aug 21, 2014, 09:56 AM

1. I am growing some of the true heat monsters - Trinidad Scorpion and more - best solution

If I get the capsacin on my hands (which often happens) I've found bleach works best (I know, it is kind of nasty) - the bleach wipes or spray - just wash your hands briefly in a bleach solution, rinse, then lots of soap and water - best thing I've found for helping.
 
One year I saved seeds from over 50 different hot pepper types, without gloves. Wasn't too careful. All sorts of problems ensued (waking up in the middle of the night to pee - instead ended up having to stand in the shower for awhile....nuff said)

Warpy (78,135 posts)    Thu Aug 21, 2014, 05:05 PM

7. Bleach is largely lye, which is why it feels slippery on your hands

so come up with another solution*, please. Soap and water does just as well if repeated a few times. Capsaicin is oil soluble and soaps are specially designed to affix to oil so the whole business can be sent down the drain.

Goblinmonger (17,857 posts)    Thu Aug 21, 2014, 10:16 AM

2. I would guess you likely put a really small cut in the gloves

They should have worked. From what I have read, the vasoline is a preventative move. You put it on before you work with the peppers to provide a barrier between your hands and the oil of the pepper.
 
Sorry that happened to you. At least you didn't wipe your eyes (done that), your nose (done that), or more sensitive regions down south (dear lord, done that and it ain't pretty).

justhanginon (372 posts)    Thu Aug 21, 2014, 11:14 AM

3. I make a lot of jalapeno and serrano poppers

over the summer and I have found that the small end of a melon baller works well for me in deseeding them. I usually just glove my left hand and try not to touch the pepper with my right. If they are large I usually leave them whole and deseed them from the top with a grapefruit knife. Labor intensive but I am retired so ...... Still get some sting but not as bad as what you had. It is miserable I know.

I grew some habaneros and they are not to be trifled with. I cut them open, hold them down with a fork and deseed and chop them without ever touching them. I like them chopped rather finely and put sparingly in cornbread muffins. Makes them zippy!

mopinko (41,904 posts)    Thu Aug 21, 2014, 02:20 PM

4. nitrile gloves work the best.

a tomato shark also is a great little tool if you can find one. just like a half teaspoon size scooper with teeth.
 
i have done worse things with pepper juice on my hands.

cbayer (134,082 posts)    Thu Aug 21, 2014, 03:44 PM

5. I once got some really bad pepper stuff under my fingernails.

I ended up having to cut my nails down to the quick.

Now I try to limit my exposure to peppers that just aren't that hot. I like hot, but I have no need for scalding.
 
I don't wear gloves at all. In fact, I would wonder if the gloves didn't cause some kind of concentration of the capsaican that caused your burns.
 
Anyway, just thank the stars that you didn't touch your eyes or any other particularly sensitive parts of yourself, if you know what I mean.

Warpy (78,135 posts)    Thu Aug 21, 2014, 04:59 PM

6. Gadzooks! You must be especially susceptible to capsaicin

because my own technique is to lop off the top of the pepper, cut it in half, then scrape the seeds out with a demitasse spoon (don't look at me like that, the family thieves had class). If I'm doing jalapenos rellenos, I cut enough of a slit to get said spoon in to scrape out the seeds. I do all this with bare hands and just wash after I'm done with the prep. Then I wash during whatever cooking I'm doing and again after I eat whatever it is while I'm doing the dishes. Note that I don't have a dishwasher.
 
At that point I can even rub my eyes with only a slight tingle.

Pepper "burn" isn't a real burn, it's the action of capsaicin on pain receptors. Burn remedies just plain don't work because there is no tissue degradation, although it can feel like you're being skinned with a dull knife. You can rub capsaicin in your eyes without harming your vision, it's been done by cops who get their jollies torturing handcuffed environmental activists.
 
Milk can help. Ice can help. Vinegar can help. Soap and water will eventually remove it.

japple (4,722 posts)    Thu Aug 21, 2014, 05:06 PM

8. Get a tube of Lidocaine Plus at the pharmacy. It's OTC and helps lots of

things including severe itching, bug stings/bites (fire ants!!) and burns.

hobbit709 (31,919 posts)    Thu Aug 21, 2014, 07:06 PM

10. Peppers never bother me.

I cut them up barehanded all the time. The wimpiest peppers I use are serranos. When cooking stir-fry I usually use Thai bird peppers, sometimes Habaneros if I'm the only one eating.

Once in a while I forget that I've been cutting peppers and rub my eyelid. That usually stings a little and tears me up for about five minutes.

But then people tell me I'm weird anyway.

grasswire (41,306 posts)    Thu Aug 21, 2014, 08:33 PM

12. pickle juice

It worked for me.

And I wonder if mustard would work for pepper burn. I have found it useful for small heat burns.

franksolich's handy-dandy guide to preventing pepper burns:

Don't mess with peppers, period.  If they grow, let them wither away after the first frost so they decay and rot back into the soil, providing fertilizer next spring for vegetables that make more sense.

[franksolich]

I just thought of something.

It's been eons since dear old sweet Lu, hostess of the cooking and baking forum, has been around.

<<<wonders what's up with that.

[Dori]

I just thought of something.

It's been eons since dear old sweet Lu, hostess of the cooking and baking forum, has been around.

<<<wonders what's up with that.

Last time I can find where she posted was early July.

[GOBUCKS]

I just thought of something.

It's been eons since dear old sweet Lu, hostess of the cooking and baking forum, has been around.

<<<wonders what's up with that.

Last I heard, she had a wad of hookworms the size of a softball working its way through her system.

[Linda]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/115744725

Oh my.

franksolich's handy-dandy guide to preventing pepper burns:

Don't mess with peppers, period.  If they grow, let them wither away after the first frost so they decay and rot back into the soil, providing fertilizer next spring for vegetables that make more sense.

Just think if the peppers do them that bad just by touching them, what is it doing to their insides after they eat them????????

[thundley4]

I was making jalapeno poppers for the party on Sat. No neophyte in the kitchen, I wore gloves (latex gloves--the kind medical people wear). I had a lot of peppers--maybe 2 dozen.

I hope none of her guests are allergic to latex.

[Karin]

I'm happy to hear that pain was inflicted. 

Why go to all this fuss?  The McCain company makes a fine jalapeno popper.  Just buy them.  It's good enough for Buffalo Wild Wings. 

[BlueStateSaint]

I've got a funny story (self-inflicted pain) about hot peppers.  A few years ago, I grew cayenne banana peppers.  Well, one morning I went into the garden and obviously didn't have enough caffeine in my arteries, because I picked one of the cayennes (I had forgotten that is what they were) and bit into it.  My next thoughts were, "That was smaaaart.  Where's the nearest Stewart's (convenience store)--I need something to cool this off!"  I made the 3-mile trip in about 2 minutes, or so it seemed.  I went in and the manager on duty was a friend of my sister's, so she knew who I was.  "I just bit into a hot pepper--got anything?"  She got an ice cream sample out.  It did wonders in knocking back the heat.

Never forgot where those little bastards (cayennes) were again.

[JohnnyReb]

While she still had the latex gloves on, she should of had a little sex orgy by herself.

[thundley4]

While she still had the latex gloves on, she should of had a little sex orgy by herself.

She could certainly spice up her sex life that way.

[BlueStateSaint]

She could certainly spice up her sex life that way.

What's to say that the latex wouldn't reject her?

[franksolich]

Last I heard, she had a wad of hookworms the size of a softball working its way through her system.

It's very sad, that an ailment in one single individual can have such a rippling effect; for the want of Epsom salts, the cooking and baking forum, once the most lively, the most animated, of all the "little" forums on Skins's island, has withered away to being about as active as the "Sibel Edmunds and Other Whistleblowers" forum (yes, there is such a forum there), where cobwebs flourish.

Simply because the hostess, dear old sweet Lu's failure to demonstrate leadership, getting involved with starting topics in it, hanging around to get engaged with other primitives who show up there.  And the primitives, seeing that their leader's not doing anything, ask themselves, "well, if she's not starting topics and commenting, why should I?" and stray away to other forums.

The list of primitives at one time regulars there, posting a comment a minute, but now who don't hang around there any more, is very long.

And it hardly took a physician to figure out what was wrong; that dear old sweet Lu had been afflicted with the hookworm.

(a) laziness......check.
(b) lethargy....check.
(c) apathy.....check.
(d) listlessness.....check.
(e) lassitude.....check.
(f) languor.....check.
(g) passitivity.....check.
(h) negligence.....check.
(i) slackness.....check.
(j) inertia.....check.
(k) indolence.....check.
(l) faineancy.....check.
(m) indifference.....check.
(n) torpescence.....check.
(o) sluggishness.....check.

And so on and on and on; those are all major symptoms of hookworm.

[franksolich]

While she still had the latex gloves on, she should of had a little sex orgy by herself.

As you know, sir, but the primitives probably don't, hookworm was the scourge of the South circa a hundred years ago, inflicted by the indifference and corruption of its northern overlords.

It was a big problem, a really big problem.

Fortunately, private persons, private initiative, private money (i.e., no government program and taxpayer funds) got rid of it.....and not only in the American South, but most of the rest of the world.

However, nothing is really totally eradicated; maybe 99.9% of it, but never 100.0% of it.

Dear old sweet Lu coincidentally lives in an isolated, remote valley in the rustic mountains and woods of western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, where such a thing is most likely to persist.

[freedumb2003b]

It's very sad, that an ailment in one single individual can have such a rippling effect; for the want of Epsom salts, the cooking and baking forum, once the most lively, the most animated, of all the "little" forums on Skins's island, has withered away to being about as active as the "Sibel Edmunds and Other Whistleblowers" forum (yes, there is such a forum there), where cobwebs flourish.

Simply because the hostess, dear old sweet Lu's failure to demonstrate leadership, getting involved with starting topics in it, hanging around to get engaged with other primitives who show up there.  And the primitives, seeing that their leader's not doing anything, ask themselves, "well, if she's not starting topics and commenting, why should I?" and stray away to other forums.

The list of primitives at one time regulars there, posting a comment a minute, but now who don't hang around there any more, is very long.

And it hardly took a physician to figure out what was wrong; that dear old sweet Lu had been afflicted with the hookworm.

(a) laziness......check.
(b) lethargy....check.
(c) apathy.....check.
(d) listlessness.....check.
(e) lassitude.....check.
(f) languor.....check.
(g) passitivity.....check.
(h) negligence.....check.
(i) slackness.....check.
(j) inertia.....check.
(k) indolence.....check.
(l) faineancy.....check.
(m) indifference.....check.
(n) torpescence.....check.
(o) sluggishness.....check.

And so on and on and on; those are all major symptoms of hookworm.

Also of being a leftist.

Maybe liberalism is caused by hookworms.

[I_B_Perky]

I've got a funny story (self-inflicted pain) about hot peppers.  A few years ago, I grew cayenne banana peppers.  Well, one morning I went into the garden and obviously didn't have enough caffeine in my arteries, because I picked one of the cayennes (I had forgotten that is what they were) and bit into it.  My next thoughts were, "That was smaaaart.  Where's the nearest Stewart's (convenience store)--I need something to cool this off!"  I made the 3-mile trip in about 2 minutes, or so it seemed.  I went in and the manager on duty was a friend of my sister's, so she knew who I was.  "I just bit into a hot pepper--got anything?"  She got an ice cream sample out.  It did wonders in knocking back the heat.

Never forgot where those little bastards (cayennes) were again.

Next time try eating some bread. Some fool up at work talked me into trying a drop of Insanity Sauce on a chip one time. Burned my mouth up. The boss at the time, when he finally quit laughing, told me to eat some bread. That helped immensely.

I feel your pain.   

[landofconfusion80]

Just chopped up some Jalapenos for some salsa last week. Never occurred to me to put on gloves to handle them.  I guess all that time not working makes the Primitive's skin especially tender.