Let me tell you a little horror story, children. This one is not for the faint hearted, and you may want to send your little ones from the room while you read this. Let me start by saying that I LOVE the habenero pepper, and that it has a great flavor to go with the heat. I use it to this day when I am making hot wings, and consider it an essential ingredient. But you MUST respect it. In my ignorant youth, I did not, and I paid the price. My first experience with this marvel of nature was to try making my own hot sauce. I bought about a dozen peppers or so, and proceded to slice them up and put then in a bottle with some vinegar. Not a bad idea, and the results were quite decent. Unfortunately, when I was slicing them I was not wearing any protection of any kind. If you take nothing else from this story, friends, for the love of holy GOD remember this: ALWAYS WEAR GLOVES WHEN WORKING WITH HABANEROS!!! I did not, and you can bet your ass that I never made that mistake again. If you do, then you cannot imagine the pain that awaits you.
It started with my eyes. Keep in mind, I am not a complete fool and never have been, so I washed my hands immediately after chopping them. Nevertheless later on I noticed a stinging in my eyes when rubbing them with my hands. After experiencing this I naturally tried washing my hands again, but it was too late and to no avail. The damage had been done. I should have taken heed of this experience and from the warning in my hands. They felt warm, and would feel this way for several days. I found out later that there is an arthritis ointment named Capzacin that uses the active ingredient in peppers, called capsaicin. This experience taught me why it is so effective. My hands felt a very distinct warmth for several days afterwards. It was not unpleasant, and indeed if I had arthritis I have no doubt this would have helped. But alas, a warming sensation isn't the end of this story. Later, when I was taking a shower, one of the worst experiences of my life began. It started with my eyes as before, but oh no, it didn't end there. Let's just say that other areas I washed begain to burn as well. Yes, that's right, THAT area. And if you think burning eyes are bad, that is NOTHING in comparison to having your nether region feel as though it is being roasted over an open fire.
Needless to day, I learned my lesson. Whenever I even THINK of chopping up a habanero pepper, I wear gloves now. Looking back, I think what happened is that the oils from the peppers absorbed into my skin. If you've had any chemistry course work, you'll remember the saying "like disolves like". In short, oil won't dissolve in water. All the washing in the world with soap and water won't help, and in fact makes it worse. I have a theory that perhaps cooking oil or something along that line might help, but it will be a cold day in hell before I try that experiment. Anyway, the moral of this story is simple and bears repeating: WEAR GLOVES WHEN CHOPPING HABANEROS. You can disagree with me now, but if you do I guarantee you will come around to my point of view afterwards. Spare yourself the pain and horror.
