Love hot peppers, but....

[ellakav]

I had the crab apple face when I was a kid, the tree dropped them right off the side of my grandparents yard. Man that was nasty. You'd think as ugly as they are, no one would want to eat them

what about persimmons??

and you people who drink buttermilk, like my Dad used to?
all I can say is

 

[Selkie]

what about persimmons??

and you people who drink buttermilk, like my Dad used to?
all I can say is

Forget the fruit... who first thought about eating oysters?!?!

 

[ellakav]

Forget the fruit... who first thought about eating oysters?!?!

EEEEEWWWWWWW!!!!
I've been to dinner with people who just slurp them raw
right outta the shell

AAAAARRRRRGGGGHH!! it's just so wrong...

 

[bigdaddy3k]

I had the crab apple face when I was a kid, the tree dropped them right off the side of my grandparents yard. Man that was nasty. You'd think as ugly as they are, no one would want to eat them

I make it a habit to taste all crabapples I see. Why? Because there are really really good ones out there!! Not all crabs are alike. There is a decorative crabapple tree in a mall near my home. No one realizes that these apples are delicious and sweet and crisp, just small. probably about the size of a walnut (maybe a little larger). I first started doing it because I discovered an apple variety called Chestnut Crab that totally rock but rapidly go to mealy after picking. My source for these is 300 miles away (never found them any where else).

 

[Chile Chef]

hate wearing gloves to handle them? Allergic to latex?

Found a great method to deal with capsaicin on your hands after handling chili peppers....

Here's what you do:

After you've chopped/mashed/fondled/whatever you intend to do with your peppers, apply a small amount (2-3T, more if you have big ham hands like me! ) of cooking oil. Cheap stuff will do fine.

Rub your hands down, top to bottom, COMPLETELY for a good 10 seconds - just as though you were washing your hands with soap.

Then, wash your hands just as thoroughly with soap and water.

Here's how it works:

Capsaicin is only soluble in fat. This is why it sticks to your tongue, and why drinking high fat-content milk or buttermilk is the best way to cure the burn.

This same principle works when cleaning your hands - the oil picks up the capsaicin, then you wash the oil away with the soap.

I love my chilies, and I hate latex gloves. This was a godsend for me when I stumbled across it one day after chopping some peppers for the dryer (I make my own chili powder out of habaneros, Thai prik peppers, and cayenne) - No more fiery hands!

Good tip mate, But you can also use Germ X, that stuff works really well for me.

 

[Claire]

I'm definitely going to try this tip. I'm starting to dry peppers from the garden this year, which isn't the difficult part. It is when I slice and use my cayennes that are fresh, or turn my dried cayennes into chile flakes for cooking. Ironically, it isn't if I wipe my eyes that is the problem (eyes are surprisingly resilient, then just water and get the capsaicin out), but if I touch my nose or the area around my mouth. You'd be surprised how often you touch your nose. That delicate skin area (Gee, I just stopped to scratch the tip of my nose!) seems to keep the darned capsaiciin for hours. As do my fingers. But I believe the oil thing would work. When I was a kid, we learned to oil our fingers before pitting cherries to keep them from staining. Because I want to have dried chillies I can't oil before, but will try oiling my hands after.