Handle Hot Peppers With Care

It’s time to share a Public Service Announcement and humble myself a little bit because I made quite a mistake yesterday and paid for it dearly.

I was making salsa out of garden veggies (recipe to follow!) and was cutting up tomatoes, green peppers, onion, serano peppers and jalepeno peppers. After seeding and dicing the peppers, I discarded most of the seeds, threw them in the bowl, and washed my hands. I finished mixing the ingredients, put the salsa in the fridge, and cleaned up the kitchen.

I then sat down to put my little guy down for a nap…my left hand had begun to tingle a bit, but I ignored it. Within about five minutes my left hand felt as though I had plunged it into a pot of boiling water. It felt completely scalded and was on fire. I handled the pain for several minutes before I went to get a bag of ice for my hand and decided to Google it. I read through several websites and tried numerous remedies, including Pepto Bismol, bleach, isopropyl alcohol, baking soda, and milk. Nothing relieved the excruciating pain. I finally decided it was going to hurt for a while and I settled down with my hand soaking in a bowl of ice milk.

An so I sat for the rest of the evening. At bed time I took a bag of ice to bed with me. Finally at about 4 am (12 hours after making the salsa) the pain subsided enough to sleep. Even then, though…I did not fall into dreams about Ferrari parts, I tell you. I was exhausted but had trouble sleeping even then.

So…PSA: NEVER cut hot peppers without gloves. Discard the gloves and wash your hands well.

Fresh Salsa:

2-3 diced tomatoes
1/2 diced red onion
1 jalepeno pepper
1/2 green pepper
1 serano pepper
Juice of one lime
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Salt and Pepper

Dice everything up finely and combine in a bowl. Chill before serving.