Jalapeno Pepper Burn

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The other day I learned a very important lesson:

Wear gloves while cutting jalapeno peppers

As it turns out, jalapeno peppers can burn your skin and it hurts really really bad.  I had never experienced anything like this before and I've cut several jalapenos in my days.  About 30 minutes after cutting the jalapeno, my hand started burning a bit.  Within minutes, my hand felt like it was on fire.  It got all red and swollen.  I dipped it in a bowl of cold water while I ate dinner.  The water helped, but once it wasn't cold anymore, my hand started burning again.

I decided to do some research and ask around to see if there were any remedies.  I got quite a big list.  None of them were a permanent fix, but some did provide a bit of relief.  I thought I'd review the different remedies for you :)

Cold milk: This did stop the burning while it was cold, but once the milk was warm, my hand burned again.  Apparently pepper burns aren't water soluble which is why people recommend milk/dairy.

Baking soda and water: Didn't really seem to work for me.

Tooth paste: This helped take away a bit of the burning, but didn't soothe it as much as the cold things.  It was a bit longer lasting as far as keeping away the intense burning/pain.

Lemon Juice: I didn't have any at the time so I don't know if it helps or not.

Dip in milk then flour: Surprisingly this worked very well for about 5 minutes and then it was back to burning like crazy.

Sour cream: The sour cream worked super well for about 1 minute and then once it turned warm my hand burned again.  If only it stayed cold the whole time I think it would have been one of the best.

As you can see, I tried a lot of remedies and nothing seemed to really be helping at least not for a long period of time.  It was time for bed so I just kept filling up a bowl with cold water next to my bed to put my hand in until I could get to sleep.  I chose to do water even though I knew the burn wasn't water soluble because I found that cold water and cold milk had the same results (they worked while cold and not while warm), I didn't want to waste anymore milk and I didn't want to risk spilling milk all over my room while trying to sleep with my hand in the bowl.  The good news is, I woke up in the morning and the burning was gone!  So a great remedy is sleep haha.

I did get a few other suggestions later, but I was already asleep.  So I'll tell you in case you want to try them out too.  

Lime Juice

Rubbing Alcohol or hand sanitizer

My husband thought that maybe I was just being a wimp, but I tried describing to him that it actually hurts worse than any other burn I've received mainly because when not treating it, the heat/pain continued to increase with no end in sight.  It was so strange.  I had no idea a jalapeno could do this to you.  I knew that you shouldn't touch your eye after cutting peppers, but now I know why people wear gloves.  From now on, I'll be wearing gloves too!

The other day I learned a very important lesson:

Wear gloves while cutting jalapeno peppers

As it turns out, jalapeno peppers can burn your skin and it hurts really really bad.  I had never experienced anything like this before and I've cut several jalapenos in my days.  About 30 minutes after cutting the jalapeno, my hand started burning a bit.  Within minutes, my hand felt like it was on fire.  It got all red and swollen.  I dipped it in a bowl of cold water while I ate dinner.  The water helped, but once it wasn't cold anymore, my hand started burning again.

I decided to do some research and ask around to see if there were any remedies.  I got quite a big list.  None of them were a permanent fix, but some did provide a bit of relief.  I thought I'd review the different remedies for you :)

Cold milk: This did stop the burning while it was cold, but once the milk was warm, my hand burned again.  Apparently pepper burns aren't water soluble which is why people recommend milk/dairy.

Baking soda and water: Didn't really seem to work for me.

Tooth paste: This helped take away a bit of the burning, but didn't soothe it as much as the cold things.  It was a bit longer lasting as far as keeping away the intense burning/pain.

Lemon Juice: I didn't have any at the time so I don't know if it helps or not.

Dip in milk then flour: Surprisingly this worked very well for about 5 minutes and then it was back to burning like crazy.

Sour cream: The sour cream worked super well for about 1 minute and then once it turned warm my hand burned again.  If only it stayed cold the whole time I think it would have been one of the best.

As you can see, I tried a lot of remedies and nothing seemed to really be helping at least not for a long period of time.  It was time for bed so I just kept filling up a bowl with cold water next to my bed to put my hand in until I could get to sleep.  I chose to do water even though I knew the burn wasn't water soluble because I found that cold water and cold milk had the same results (they worked while cold and not while warm), I didn't want to waste anymore milk and I didn't want to risk spilling milk all over my room while trying to sleep with my hand in the bowl.  The good news is, I woke up in the morning and the burning was gone!  So a great remedy is sleep haha.

I did get a few other suggestions later, but I was already asleep.  So I'll tell you in case you want to try them out too.  

Lime Juice

Rubbing Alcohol or hand sanitizer

My husband thought that maybe I was just being a wimp, but I tried describing to him that it actually hurts worse than any other burn I've received mainly because when not treating it, the heat/pain continued to increase with no end in sight.  It was so strange.  I had no idea a jalapeno could do this to you.  I knew that you shouldn't touch your eye after cutting peppers, but now I know why people wear gloves.  From now on, I'll be wearing gloves too!