A warning about handling habanero peppers!

[panader0]

While making 20 jars of salsa yesterday and today (we had to go back for more tomatos), I cut up many ingredients, including the hot habanero peppers. I tasted each batch, and the heat made me begin to sweat. I love the hot stuff, but it makes me sweat a lot.
After dicing tha habaneros, sweat began to roll down my cheeks, and like a fool, I wiped my cheeks with my hands. Boom!
They are still burning an hour later. Then I had to take a pee. I actually used toilet paper to handle my little buddy.
Have yourself a sweaty little Christmas!

[Liberal Veteran]

1. Been there. Done that.

Talk about having the "fire down below".

[rrneck]

2. I always rub my eye. nt

[rug]

3. And never drink water within twelve hours of handling them.

[dixiegrrrrl]

13. really? why not?

I know to wash my hands in soap and water, then to rinse with milk and vinegar.
but water drinking?
Is that cause of sweats?

[rug]

14. Well . . . men have a tendency to be careless when urinating.

[dixiegrrrrl]

16. Ohhhhhhhhh...

that was a MAN warning.
whew!

[hobbit709]

4. Feel the burn.

when I make a batch of my slasa I start with 5 lbs of Red Savinas

[jmowreader]

10. That's for a quart, right?

You do realize that salsa containing five pounds of red savina peppers falls into Schedule 3 of the Chemical Weapons Convention, right?

[Brigid]

5. TMI!

[Locut0s]

6. Applies double if you upgrade to ghost chilli's , jolokia...

Say good by to your little buddy, you eyes...

[Lionel Mandrake]

7. Capsaicin is the culprit

This is a chemical that stimulates heat and pain nerve endings. The so-called Scoville scale measures its concentration in peppers and other sources, including pepper spray.

Scoville Heat Unit Ratings

16 million Pure capsaicin
5 million Law enforcement pepper spray
1 million Ghost pepper (Bhut jolokia chili)
100,00-350,000 Habanero pepper, Scotch bonnet pepper
30,000-50,000 Cayenne pepper
10,000-25,000 Serrano pepper
2,500-8,000 Jalapeño pepper, Paprika, Tabasco sauce
500-2,500 Anaheim pepper, Poblano pepper
100-500 Pimento, Banana pepper, Peperoncini
0 Bell pepper

[laundry_queen]

8. Oh, I remember when my ex and I first got together

we went to a party at my best friend's house. Her mom had given her these jars of dried habaneros and scotch bonnets. My friend dared us all to eat one. We all did. Yes, it was painful, lol. But THEN my ex decided he needed to take out his contacts. He didn't wash his hands.

It was a few hours before the tears stopped streaming down his face. Luckily we knew milk could help (something in the milk binds with the capsaicin) and we washed his eyes out with milk, which took away some of the sting.

I'll say the 'wash the hands after handling' principle also applies to essential oils. Peppermint oil in the eyes is not good either.

[WilliamPitt]

9. My friend Dan brought a baggie of ghost peppers to the bar one football Sunday

...as well as a jar of BBQ sauce deemed by the Guinness Book of Records to be the hottest in the world.

Luke the Man-Child Terrorist Bartender got hold of both, and started "dosing" our beers, either by dropping a little bit of pepper into them, or smearing the rim of the glass with the sauce.

My friend Don got nailed with the smear, chased Luke around the bar a bit while coughing and wheezing (the shit is white-hot), wiped it off his face with his hand...and went to take a piss.

Coal miners twelve miles below the surface of the Earth could hear him screaming 30 seconds later.

[LNM]

11. You tasted each batch?

You're gonna feel the burn again tomorrow!

[irisblue]

12. milk, tums, double ply tp

ohh geez I feel so sorry for you

[GoCubsGo]

15. Been there, done that.

Except for the "little buddy" part. I don't have one of those. I have, however, made the mistake of rubbing my eyes, thinking I had washed all the pepper oils from my hands. I now know that it takes days for it all to go away, regardless of how hard one washes.

[Xipe Totec]

17. Water with just a tad of bleach will kill capsacin.

That's straight from Martha Stewart.

Of course it's for external use only.

If it's in your mouth or eyes, you're screwn; tough it out.

Under no circumstances put bleach in your eyes or mouth. Use milk then.