Lets talk about capsaicin baby. Capsaicin, the compound found in hot peppers that gives them their hotness! In addition to flavoring our favorite chiles, it also acts as a pain blocker, has antibacterial properties and increases blood flow (yes you do flush when eating a spicy pepper!) Whats not to love? Well, as anyone who has had the experience once, capsaicin also acts as a particularly nasty skin irritant, especially to the more delicate tissues. As a jalapeño dicing virgin I chopped my bad boy up, rinsed my hands and touched my eyes a few minutes later. Well fresh hell! Who knew its an oil that sticks to your hands for a small eternity. Enter solutions: #1 absolutely without fail have a pair of rubber kitchen gloves that are used solely for cooking. Keep them separate from cleansing gloves, in a different color and use them only when handling food. I put them on EVERY time I chop any hot pepper and Ive still got both of my eyeballs. Next problem with capsaicin is that easily becomes airborne while the seeds are being removed. While removing them I would turn blue trying not to inhale the impending onslaught of oil. So I did what we all do and googled it to find removing the seeds under cool running water would work. Nope. Still ended up with the pepper dread cough/choke/wheeze combination.....UNTIL TODAY when the lightbulb went off. Hold those little suckers completely submerged underwater while seeding them. Worked like a charm. Like a boss or whatever people say when stuff works out great. When you finish, clean all work surfaces immediately and then wash your hands with dish soap while the gloves are still on and air dry. Because cooking shouldnt have to hurt :) Jappy Jalapeños!
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 04:41:18 +0000