What should I do if my hands get spicy when cutting peppers? Very practical!

When cutting peppers at home, even though I was very careful, my hands, even after carefully rinsing them after cutting, were still burned by the hot peppers, and I felt a burning sensation on my hands for several hours afterwards.

Why is it so spicy?

The substance in chili peppers that makes people feel "hot" is a type of capsaicin, which is collectively called capsaicin. When you cut peppers, capsaicin gets on your skin, causing the capillaries to dilate, resulting in redness and heat on the skin, and also stimulating the pain nerves. This is why we usually feel our hands are burning. Capsaicin is concentrated in the white tendons inside the pepper, so the tip of the pepper is not as spicy as the root. People who can't stand spicy food remove the white tendons in the middle of the peppers when frying them to reduce the spiciness, but at the same time, the most nutritious part of the peppers is also removed.

What to do if it's spicy?

1. Scrub repeatedly with medical alcohol or vinegar

Capsaicin is soluble in ethanol and alkaline aqueous solutions, but insoluble in cold water. Based on this principle, we can understand why the burning sensation cannot be washed away with cold water. Correspondingly, alcohol can dissolve capsaicin on your hands, and vinegar can neutralize capsaicin. If you don't have medical alcohol, you can use some white wine instead.

2. Wash your hands with soap and water

The principle is the same as above, alkaline soapy water can dissolve capsaicin on your hands.

3. Apply some toothpaste

Still following the above principle, most toothpastes are alkaline and can dissolve capsaicin on your hands.

4. Wash your hands with hot water

If you don't have medical alcohol or vinegar, you can wash your hands with hot water. Because capsaicin will produce irritating evaporation under high temperature, although it is not as strong as alcohol and vinegar, and hot water will intensify the burning sensation, its effect is worse than cold water. As the saying goes, "a short pain is worse than a long pain."

5. Ice cubes or frozen cans

Ice compresses mainly relieve burning sensations. Remember to wrap ice cubes or frozen drinks with cloth or towel when applying ice, and then hold them with both hands. This can absorb the melted ice water and avoid frostbite caused by over-freezing.