a: handling hot peppers

if you've never worked with hot peppers, here are a few tricks to the trade to keep you from the terrible and long lasting burn on your skin that can accompany working with them (if you've ever experienced this, you know exactly to what i am referring, and if not, consider yourself lucky!). first of all, if at all possible, WEAR GLOVES!!! just your standard latex or vinyl disposable gloves. this will save you from a lot of grievance. especially if you have any knicks on your hands, or even if your hands are chapped, gloves are a must!!! if not, keep the pepper juice off of your hands as much as humanly possible. if you do start to have a burning sensation, do NOT under ANY circumstances try to wash it out with water (cold or otherwise)!!! this will only make it worse! instead, wash your hands with milk--the higher the percentage the better). the alkalinity will help the burning sensation. there are some suggestions out there that people give of using things like lemon juice, bleach, rubbing alcohol or tomato juice on your hands. again, don't do this! the acidity will make the burning worse. something that might feel good is soaking your hands in either oil or melted butter, or putting on lotion. again, don't do it! it will seal the heat in and actually make it worse, no matter how good it might feel at first. milk, or other dairy products, are by far your best bet. despite helping, it may not eliminate the burning. in this case, you basically have to wait it out. keep your hands OUT of water at all costs, and DO NOT TOUCH any other part of your body (especially your face or eyes), as the burning sensation can transfer to that area.

so. the order of tips is thus:
1.) WEAR GLOVES!!!!
2.) if burning sensation starts, DO NOT touch any other part of your body.
3.) wash/soak your hands in milk, avoiding water at all costs.


though some people make it complex, it is actually quite simple to cut peppers. as you probably, typically the smaller the pepper the hotter it is, so exercise more caution with these. peppers like bell peppers and jalapeños are particularly easy to cut. cut them in half from the top down. inside there will be seeds and a structure holding them to the outside of the pepper. simply strip this structure and the seeds into the garbage just using your fingers, and cut from there as needed (strips, dicing, etc).

good luck!
-kl