We have all done it – chopped a jalapeno pepper or one of the hotter peppers and end up with fingers that burn afterwards. And if you happen to accidentally touch your face – especially your eyes – it can burn painfully for hours.
If you need to chop hot peppers, use a clean cutting board that you will wash immediately afterwards. Peppers contain oils that will seep into the cutting board and will still burn you if you use it to cut something else afterwards.
Wear a pair of disposable gloves. You can buy large boxes of kitchen gloves for pretty cheap, and they are worth the investment for doing messy jobs such as handling raw meat or cutting peppers.
After you finish cutting the peppers, rinse off the cutting board and knife in the sink, then place them in the dishwasher or quickly wash them with soap and water. You can then remove the gloves, being sure to turn them inside out as you remove them so you don’t accidentally contaminate your skin or the garbage can as you dispose of them.
If your skin does touch the pepper oils / juice, be sure to wash immediately with soap and water to limit the burning.
Leave a Reply