I don't cook with spicy peppers a whole lot, but because of that one example from my youth, I always wash my hands after doing any food prep and before doing anything else.
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Funny thing about capsaicin is that it’s not soluble in alcohol but is in oils. Care to guess what happens when you have dry skin and then try to wash it off with soap and water? I recommend rinsing with alcohol or cooking oil first to make sure you get all of it. I have… experience. 😬
aug 30, 2025, 3:06 am • 8 1 • view
See, I wear gloves...
aug 30, 2025, 3:08 am • 8 0 • view
So do I. Now. I still make sure I rinse and wash thoroughly, though, because I have somehow still managed to have problems when I don’t.
aug 30, 2025, 3:25 am • 4 0 • view
Oh yeah, definitely with the hand washing afterwards. I like to make homemade horseradish. You learn real fast with that!
aug 30, 2025, 3:30 am • 5 0 • view
As a matter of fact, I only made that mistake once. I had just chopped some rather potent onions before the jalapeños. I stripped off the gloves to wipe my watering eyes, and… lesson learned.
aug 30, 2025, 3:33 am • 3 0 • view
I was taught in chemistry class/lab "water dissolves water, oil dissolves oil." Seems to be true. (I wear nitrile gloves anyway if I'm dealing with the spicy. Ditto other things like engine maintenance.)
aug 30, 2025, 6:14 pm • 1 0 • view
So, I actually meant to say that capsaicin doesn’t dissolve in water. 🤦♂️ If you have dry skin, capsaicin can bond to dead skin cells, so soap and water aren’t very effective at washing it off unless you scrub. Rinsing with oil or alcohol first loosens the bonds so soap and water are more effective.
aug 30, 2025, 6:34 pm • 0 0 • view
Nitrile gloves are good (I also use them), but they aren’t an absolute barrier. The thinner gloves people ordinarily wear are penetrated more quickly, too. You will have at least some capsaicin on the underlying skin, so you really should scrub thoroughly after you remove the gloves.
aug 30, 2025, 6:34 pm • 0 0 • view
I wash my hands before/after every single step when I’m cooking. Crack an egg? Wash. Get something from the fridge? Wash. At work I use my bare hands to dig soil, prune something with fine thorns, scatter manure, and then eat a sandwich with my bare hands without washing
aug 30, 2025, 4:14 am • 1 0 • view
Oh, ugh - anything slick or sticky is a huge autistic ick for me, but I still love to cook.
aug 30, 2025, 4:21 am • 1 0 • view
I prune plants with sticky sap, no problem. Crack an egg? Immediate wash. It makes no sense at all
aug 30, 2025, 4:24 am • 1 0 • view