Down, down, down in a burning ring of fire…
So last night, I got the not so bright idea to harvest my jalapeno peppers. There they were, hanging so prettily from the vine. I had been awaiting this moment for quite some time. You see, I’m a complete sucker for Arby’s jalapeno poppers. And I thought–Hey! I could grow these! Homemade poppers, any time I want them! 
I found a recipe on the Internet, happily sliced, stuffed, breaded, and fried them. 
Note–new discovery–Arby’s poppers are for wusses. My jalapeno poppers were like biting into flames of Hellfire. 
Sweet Lord Almighty. I believe I blistered my lips and my eyes were watering. I was quite disappointed in my jalapeno prowess. Sadly, I was only able to eat two. It was then that I noticed a mild stinging sensation on my hands.
Oh yes, I had read about this. Supposedly you can burn your hands from jalapenos or other chiles. Which is why I washed my hands with soap before, during, and after slicing. Not a problem.
Hours later, I began to see that there was, in fact, a problem. I washed my hands multiple times, to no avail. When I took a bath that night, 
my hands felt like they were going up in flames. What the?? My darling husband kindly pointed out that I had likely opened up my skin pores with the warm water. Doh! 
I endured the searing pain as long as I could (okay, ten minutes), and raced to my laptop. Google never loaded so slowly. I frantically typed in the search terms and discovered a lovely little condition called Jalapeno Hands. For which, apparently, there is no cure. Most websites pointed out that you should wear rubber gloves when slicing chiles or jalapenos. Gee, thanks. NOT helpful, people! I desperately searched for something–anything–to help, and at last happened upon one fellow who suggested Purell Hand Sanitizer. Cue the angels singing. 
I raced upstairs, grabbed the Purell from my daughter’s room (Okay when you have babies/toddlers, you have gallons of the stuff), and ran into the bathroom. The pump wouldn’t work. I’m jamming the top furiously, “Come on. Come on! I need this stuff NOW!” Finally, I opened up the bottle and poured it over my blazing hands. Ahhhh….relief. Then moments later when the alcohol evaporated, the stinging returned. Noooooo! I poured more Purell on. Ahhh….Let’s just say I used about 1/4 of the bottle. It didn’t take away my Jalapeno Hands completely, but it sure did help.
This morning, there’s still a mild tingling, but it’s nothing like last night. And I will never again forget to wear gloves when handling chiles or jalapenos. I have been suitably punished by the gods of Jalapenos for my actions. 
How about you? Ever suffered from Jalapeno burn? What did you try?
Michelle posted in Writing @ 6:50 am | Viewed 9466 times
beth Says:
Oh Michelle. I shouldn’t be laughing. I really shouldn’t. You poor thing. Glad you’re feeling better today. Somewhere along the lines I picked up the “wear gloves when handling” knowledge so I’ve never experienced it myself, but I’ve heard it’s just delightful from a few other friends (who’ve all informed me that keeping said knowledge to myself is a criminal action - to which I replied I’d've been happy to share if I’d known they were going to play with chilies.)
Kelly Says:
LOL - that made me laugh. I like hot foods but once I went to a restaurant and they were serving wings with what they called ’suicide’ sauce. OMG I thought innards were going to spontaneously combust! My belly burned for 3 days afterwards.
Gina Black Says:
I grew up in California and have always kept a respectful distance from those nice looking but evil chilis….
Emma Sinclair Says:
My heart was pounding the whole time while reading because I was so afraid that you were going to say you rubbed your eyes.
So just think - it could have been worse. :confused2:
Glad you’re feeling a bit better this morning though.
Melissa Marsh Says:
Oh, I laughed out loud on your post, Michelle! I know you were in agony, and I shouldn’t laugh, but you wrote about it in such a way that I couldn’t help it.
I’ve never had Jalapeno Hands and I never will - I hate and loathe hot, spicy foods.
Nienke Says:
I’ve never had Jalapeno Hands, but have rubbed my eyes after chopping chilis. Not a nice experience, but no where near as agonizing as yours! However, I could tell you a tale or two about poison ivy…
Tori Lennox Says:
I love hot & spicy food, but I’ve never had Jalapino Hands, thank goodness. Get some of those latex gloves like doctors, etc. use. You can get them at a pharmacy. Then you can just pitch them when you’re finished.
Stacy Says:
Oh no! I have never heard of that before and I swear I tried not to even utter a muffled giggle as I read the post…I failed miserabley but I sure hope you feel better.
Rene Says:
My parents went through that. If the peppers are too hot, they will burn through the gloves. My parents are big pepper freaks. The hotter the better but once my mom inhaled the fumes from the peppers and boy, was she sick.
Since I’ve been around peppers all my life, I’ve grown up using gloves. Sorry. It could be worse. My dh learned that when one is laying wood floor and using floor adhesive, one should wash their hands before going the bathroom.
MaryF Says:
What about aloe vera, Michelle?
I never mess with fresh - only bottled!
Crystal* Says:
I, alas, always use gloves.
Or I’ll purchase those lovely poppers that I only have to slit the plastic and slap those babies on a cookie sheet.
I’m so glad it wasn’t worse.
The Jalapeno Gods are a cruel and vengeful lot.
Hugs*
kacey Says:
LOL, no, I’m not laughing AT you, I’m laughing WITH you…right?? right?? Oh, it still isn’t funny yet??
April Says:
Believe it or not, I have a friend who worked at a nursery in college and they had planted tomatoes. And apparently a jalapeno seed was in there too. Because a plant popped up. Before they knew what had happened, a two year old had grabbed one and bit into it then put her hands in her eyes… To say the least it was not pretty
She had to be rushed to the ER. But she recovered. Of course she doesn’t pick stuff any more, I’m sure. Poor kid! And the plant was terminated!:rambo:
Olga Says:
Hugs, Michelle! That must have been painful. No, I never tried dealing with jalapenos. I don’t like anything spicy. I’m glad your hands are feeling better now!
LauraP Says:
Another hot pepper tip — never trust last year’s recipe! The heat factor can vary from one year to the next, even with the exact same pepper variety. Weather affects them — hot, dry summer means extra zip in the peppers, in my experience. Which is why one big pot of chili became 3 big pots and we didn’t need to grow chili peppers for a few years…yowser!
Audra Says:
i to love jalapenos! this summer i grew a “salsa garden” because i love making salsa. its so easy and so much better than store bought. after making some once i washed my hands then scratched my nose. few seconds later my nose was on fire!! after much searching of the internet i found rubing alcohol and that helped. also soaking them in milk will help!
Vickie Says:
Thank you, thank you, thank you!! Google rules!! LOL My husband made curry tonight for dinner (we normally used the bottled curry sauce) with two jalapeno peppers. He did NOT wear gloves and had the stinging hands.
Thanks to this entry, we found a cure (for now)! Rubbing alcohol worked…. ack, he’s back from a cigarette break and just let me know that it was temporary.
I am going to try and get him to rinse again. Gotta get this under control before he has to go to bed and take his contact lens out! :confused2:
Roxann Says:
It’s my step sisters wedding and her soon to be’s father had ordered some 400 home grown jalepenos. We all got together to finish stuffing the jalapenos when my sisters hand started severely burning, so we tried; laundry soap, hairspray, deodorant, soap, bleach, tooth paste, pee, kechup, mustard, mayonaise, mustard, flour eggs and milk, vegetable oil, lotion, I mean everything, and nothing worked. My advise is to wear some hospital gloves.
Michelle Willingham | Blog » The Universe is Laughing at Me Says:
[...] Clearly I have problems when it comes to container gardening and peppers. I am a complete addict to jalapeno poppers, and last year I got the not-so-bright idea to grow my own jalapenos. The results were here. This year, I bought green bell peppers, the mild variety that get nice and large so I can slice them up for salads, fajitas, or you name it. [...]
Kyoko Says:
Having experienced many angry
jalapeno hands and not being in the habit of keeping surgical gloves in the kitchen, I find that a nice coating of olive (or other cooking)oil on my hands prior to handling jalapenos, and even habaneros, will help some (the oil coats your hands like a glove). Make sure to have an extra sharp knife though to prevent slip and cut accidents. After you are done handling them, wash your hands in wrm, soapy water and rinse very well with cold (the cold water closes up the pores to keep any lingering chile oil out of your pores).
Good luck and happy chiles!
:)Kyoko
Kimberly Says:
The REMEDY to the buring hands is stainless steel. After having the same problem, I found if you rub your hands on a stainless steel bar, sink, bowl… anything the pain goes away immediately.
Kyoko Says:
I find that the stainless steel works great for garlic/shallot/onion aroma-hands, but does very little for the effect of ‘jalapeno hands.’ I’ll have to give that another try
)
:)Kyoko
(And, sorry for all of the spelling and grammatical errors above
JPeterman Says:
I can confirm that the stainless steel sink massage worked for my 4th of July Salsa Jalapeno hands. Still burning a little but much better.
Thank the Lord Americans invented the internet on this 4th of July
alicia Says:
Oh my god. Okay so I am throwing my friends a going away party tomorrow and thought it would be a great idea to have a Salsa Bar. So tonight I have made like 6 different kinds of salsa - several have jalapenos and one has serano. Okay - I did not realize that gloves should be worn and now I have the stinging hands!!!! I had to have my friend take out my contacts for me because it is so bad!!! I am going to try the rubbing alcohol thing and see if it works. Let’s hope so!!
Laura K. Says:
Oh, I so had the same thing happen. I went through my entire house searching for a remedy. Here are the results:
Water and soap: nothing
Cold bag of french fries: soothing
Vinegar: nothing
Baking Soda: a slight bubbling, but nothing
Alcohol: cools only while evaporating
Pepto Bismol: nothing
Yogurt: BINGO, only while cold
Hand Sanitizer: handy while trying to sleep, but not long term effective.
Hot water: are you insane!?!
Being near jalepenos: hands began radiating
Hands out the window at 75mph: ehh, ok
Hands in front of high air conditioner: better
Ice cold bath: stinging too much to bear
Lotion: no, not really
Menthol creams: no no no no no no NO. cold is good at first, then comes the hot.
Aloe: not so much
Chilled lotion: disappointing
Verdict: yogurt and frozen bag of vegtables. Next morning, still hurts.
Julie Favreau Says:
I love arbys poppers too! And I want to make some.Does anyone have a resipe that would be like theirs?
Craig Says:
I found the cure for “Jalepeno Hand”!
Don’t mess with the lemon juice, bleach, etc. Now I know this may seem counter intuitive, but I was on a garden web site forum (http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/pepper/msg081330274973.html) and they recommended running your hand under hot water. The Capsacin oil breaks down and comes off the skin. My hand, fingers and cuticle areas were all burning. I ran my hand under hot water (not steaming hot) but warm hot.It was painful, but I did it 5 times in 5 second intervals using soap. After that my thumb which was the worst still hurt some, but the rest of the pain was gone soon after drying my hands.
Tory Says:
I feel your pain RIGHT NOW it burns so badly
Kim Says:
Good Gravy. Talk about feeling like a dork. I kept wondering, “when did I burn myself?” About 2 hours after slicing up one jalapeno, (right! Just 1) My hand started to tingle, then burn, then REALLY burn.
I tried a couple of home remedies but nothing helped. Yea, and the warm bath? Wrong thing to do. Lesson learned. It’s starting to get better now…about 4 hours after handling the pepper. NEVER again.