Oh, man.
Many years ago, the first time I used hot chiles in my cooking, I learned the hard way that they can burn your skin. My hands burned like I'd poured boiling water on them late into the evening the night that I handled them. Even when I went to bed, I brought a ziploc bag full of ice water, and woke whenever my hand slid off of it. I learned not to handle hot peppers without protecting my hands. This occurred while Paul was in seminary, and he went over to the dorms to ask his buddy, who'd been a pharmacist, about what we could do. He said the oil from the peppers gets in your skin and the only way to get it out would be to wash with boiling water. It irritates the nerve endings, giving a sensation of burning, but doesn't cause any actual damage.
Tonight I made chile relleno, which is one of our favorites, and I only make it at this time of year. The chiles aren't ready for harvest until late August, and maybe goes through the end of October. It requires fresh tomatoes for the ranchero sauce, and we're coming to the end of the season for those. So, I picked up poblanos and one jalepeno at the farmer's market, along with the tomatoes I'd need. I protected my hands while dicing the jalepeno for the sauce, but poblanos are mild and I never worry about them.
As soon as we started eating we felt the heat. I thought the jalepeno was hotter than usual, but it became apparent that the poblanos were also very hot. Both from eating some poblano without much sauce, and because my fingers began to tingle. And by now, they are burning so that I will probably have to get ice on them soon after I finish typing this. I'm stopping every few seconds to wave them around to cool them.
I don't know if these poblanos were just exceptionally hot, or if I accidentally pulled peppers from the wrong bin. They look like poblanos.
It sure tasted good though! But I'm in for a long night. I'm going to go try some more remedies, like lavender essential oil.
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9 comments:
Yikes!
I'm such a wimp, Eddie likes his food spicy, I need a glass of milk and cry through most of his favorite meals.
Soon after I posted my hands started feeling better! Seems like it won't be a long night after all. I posted the recipe on my cooking blog, if you'd like to try for burning your hands, too. :-P No, really, this one is usually quite mild, and if you want to make it even milder just leave the jalepeno out of the sauce. Ah, I've got it: Mimi, you could make two versions of the sauce--just divide the ingredients between two pots, and only put the jalepeno into one of them. You could even put two jalepenos in that one!
Hey, Hot Mama! :-)
Oh Elizabeth, Im glad you're feeling better.
I was all set to feel sorry for you!
Jennifer, you always crack me up! :-)
Susan, thanks for your almost-sympathy. I'm glad I feel better, too!
When I lived as a teenager in Pakistan, all the Pakistani women swore by putting a little yoghurt on the affected area to stop the burning sensation.
Did you ever have occasion to use this remedy, Laurie? I'm wondering because I did try milk that first time. Paul's pharmacist friend said it wouldn't help, and it really didn't.
Unfortunately, the shower I took before going to bed activated the burning again, so I got to live with a hand on fire while trying to sleep. I woke many times before it finally must have gotten better at around 2 am.
Eddie likes them, so I'll print off the recipe. I like your dual-sauce suggestion.
I'm also very glad your hands feel better!
Chile rellenos are one of my favorite things to eat. So bad for me and yet so very good for me.
Going to see if your recipe blog is linked.
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