Baking Soda for Hot Pepper Burns

I like spicy food, so I never give a second thought to cutting up hot peppers in my kitchen. But I have really sensitive skin and unlike the TV chefs, I've not invested in keeping surgical gloves in my kitchen for the odd times that I want to cut up a jalapeno.

Recently when cutting up a garden fresh jalapeno pepper I bought at the farmers' market, I got myself in some real trouble. Even after an hour of washing my hands over and over, the skin on my hands was really stinging from the pepper juice I got on them. When my boyfriend noticed how uncomfortable I was he said, "Try making a paste out of baking soda and wash your hands with that."

Baking soda is something I always have around. I put about two tablespoons of baking soda in my hands and slowly dripped some cold water into the powder until it was a pasty consistency that I could rub all over my hands.

I got almost immediate relief, but kept rubbing the paste around for about a minute and then rinsed my hands in cold water. My right hand was totally back to normal. The skin between the fingers of my left hand was still burning a little, so I washed with the paste one more time and it took away every last bit of the sting.

Baking soda is amazing!

By karenkajoans from Washington, DC