deseeding hot peppers, no problem right?

[rxkeith]

i was removing seeds from last years indian jwala, and grandpa home earlier in the week to send into the swap.
these were dry peppers. i wasn't expecting any problems. i knew to wash my hands thoroughly before ahem, answering
calls of nature, so wasn't expecting any issues.
things were going well, until something must have entered my air way. i ended up having a sneezing, and coughing fit that went
on for several minutes. my wife, and son were looking at me with some concern. the fit stopped, and i thought that was interesting.
i started deseeding the other pepper, and everything was fine for awhile until here we go again, i started non stop coughing, and sneezing
again. i must have crossed a thresh hold that triggered the fit.

maybe wear a mask next time, huh.


keith

[pepperhead212]

And just think, jwala isn't really that hot! If you have problems with the dust, I would definitely suggest wearing a mask. And maybe do what I do when grinding peppers - do it outside. I take them out, and try to make sure the wind blows the dust away from me! Also, you might want to put some gloves on, if handling really hot ones.

[worth1]

I know I have a recipe just right if I taste it and it makes me sneeze.

[bower]

I had a horrible experience deseeding some Pasilla - not even very hot, right? Or so I thought as I happily clawed out the fresh seeds to dry. Then I made the mistake of washing my hands in hot water. The capsaicin had gotten under my nails, and as it turns out, once you open the pores with hot water there is no remedy for the hurt you must endure. It was at least 8 hours, as I recall the pain finally subsided at 2 in the morning but until then it was no sleep level of pain.
Meanwhile I learned and got to try out every single method for removing capsaicin from your skin.
Now any time I have to handle a hot pepper it is strictly rubbing it off with the juice from a lime or lemon rind and rinsing in cold water, repeated until I can lick my fingers and taste zero hot.
I greatly lost interest in growing super hot peppers after that....
I'm surprised about the dust just removing seeds from dry peppers, but I had heard about the perils of grinding....

[Toomanymatoes]

At first I complained to myself how much work collecting tomato seeds was for me this year. Peppers are so much easier.....NOPE! So much worse. I thought I would try using water pressure to remove seeds into a strainer. Should be easy to do and work well. Wrong again! The water aerosolizes the capsaicin....I practically gassed myself to death. I had to use an N95 to finish up.

Now I am sorting seeds for some seed exchanges and I have had plenty of sneezing and coughing fits. Normally I wear gloves, but when seed sorting I try not to touch anything with my hands. Not always easy. Taking out my contacts at the end of the day was really fun.

[Tormato]

Never touch a Carolina Reaper, and then lick your finger to find out if there is any residue on it.

If I seed HOT peppers, it's outdoors, and I'm upwind (if any very slight breeze).

[pepperhead212]

Another thing about handling peppers - the best way I have found for cleaning my hands is using some of that stuff you would use for cleaning grease off your hands after working on cars - some of that Goop, or other orange stuff, with some pumice in it. I have a small container of this by my kitchen sink, and refill it from the large one out back, with the pump. Even if I don't think I touched the peppers, when cutting them up, or washing the knives, I wash with that, just to be safe. Been using that since I've been working with peppers!

[karstopography]

I choke and gag everytime I seed a fresh jalapeño or serrano. The Aji Cristal don’t seem to be as bad even though they are generally hotter. Whatever choking and gagging that goes on is generally over in a minute or less. I’ve yet to black out or anything like that. Nothing adverse yet though working with dried, powdered or frozen then thawed peppers, including cayenne and aji Cristal. Just the fresh jalapeños and serranos get me.

[worth1]

Wash some habanero pepper leftovers and seeds down the garbage disposal with hot water and let the steam come back up.

[Tormato]

Wash some habanero pepper leftovers and seeds down the garbage disposal with hot water and let the steam come back up.

Worth reinvents the neti pot.

[Shule]

Rinsing dried hot pepper seeds can make one cough. Did you get them wet?

If you want to make coughing powder, mix chile pepper seeds and food grade diatomaceous earth. Once you open its bag or container, anyone near should start to cough, even if you don't disturb the seeds or the DE. I may have stored seeds that way and showed them to friends, once.

I figured the DE would keep the seeds dry and pest-free. I figured maybe they'd last longer that way. I think I still have those, actually. I wonder if they'll grow.

[mama_lor]

The threshold for inhaling hot pepper is probably low for everybody, I don't think anyone trains for it. Just by frying some mildly hot peppers I get coughs from the fumes.

[rdback]

Another thing about handling peppers - the best way I have found for cleaning my hands is using some of that stuff you would use for cleaning grease off your hands after working on cars - some of that Goop, or other orange stuff, with some pumice in it. I have a small container of this by my kitchen sink, and refill it from the large one out back, with the pump. Even if I don't think I touched the peppers, when cutting them up, or washing the knives, I wash with that, just to be safe. Been using that since I've been working with peppers!

Along the same line, I found (by accident) that Dawn Ultra works really well at removing capsaicin from your hands. I originally bought it because of the "upside down" design. No top to flip or unscrew - just pick up and squeeze. I've cleaned several pounds of jalapenos with no gloves, then washed thoroughly with Dawn Ultra. No issues with burning or sensitive area distress.

Dawn Ultra Soap 2 IMG_20221114_184708887.jpg

[Shule]

Another thing about handling peppers - the best way I have found for cleaning my hands is using some of that stuff you would use for cleaning grease off your hands after working on cars - some of that Goop, or other orange stuff, with some pumice in it. I have a small container of this by my kitchen sink, and refill it from the large one out back, with the pump. Even if I don't think I touched the peppers, when cutting them up, or washing the knives, I wash with that, just to be safe. Been using that since I've been working with peppers!

Along the same line, I found (by accident) that Dawn Ultra works really well at removing capsaicin from your hands. I originally bought it because of the "upside down" design. No top to flip or unscrew - just pick up and squeeze. I've cleaned several pounds of jalapenos with no gloves, then washed thoroughly with Dawn Ultra. No issues with burning or sensitive area distress.


Dawn Ultra Soap 2 IMG_20221114_184708887.jpg

My preferred method is Colgate Total Clean Mint.

[Sue_CT]

The first time I made my own chili powder, I left the cast iron skillet on the heat too long before adding the peppers and it was smoking hot. When the peppers hit it they immediately started smoking, sending capsaicin into the air and I was coughing so hard I couldn't get close enough to get them off immediatly. I finally held my breath, pulled them off the heat and turned on the overhead vent. Problem with that is that my vent does not vent outside, it sends the smoke through a filter and back into the kitchen, clearly a filter not capable of filtering out capcasin. That made the whole situation worse, the cat ran into the basement, and I ran around opening every window and door I could and turning on the ceiling fan. Whew. Almost decided the price of store bought chili powder was a bargain. Once I tasted homemade chili using my homemead chili powder, I changed my mind. Lesson? ALWAYS start toasting peppers in a cold pan, lol.

I still can't get the capsaicin off my hands with soap or scrubbing with a brush, and hours later still rub my eye and then say a few bad words.

[slugworth]

Once dehydrated red habanero in the kitchen stove oven.
Fumes almost did me in.
I once had to go food shopping with a frozen 2 liter soda bottle on my privates.
Shaken not stirred going wee.