I keep a box of throw away exam gloves in the kitchen for stuff like that, and working with raw meat. I laughed when my mom bought me two boxes of them at Costco, but, man, I use them a LOT!

Yes, gloves. For chopping one or two peppers, I glove my left hand and leave my knife hand ungloved because that's more comfortable for me and I don't need to touch the board or the peppers with my knife hand.

To remove the oils from the pepper from you hands, try soaking your hands in milk for a little while. I've never used jalapenos in anything, but have heard this works. To remove smell from your hands, rub them with a stainless steel spoon while washing your hands.

Good luck
Tami

Wearing one glove is enough, but I don't wear gloves unless handling habaneros - jalapenos are not strong enough to affect me.

If you are into soaking, try vinegar or rubbing alcohol. Milk might work, since it will dissolve proteins, and I have used it to remove blood stains when I would prick myself while sewing a white wedding dress.

Lars

While it seems to be finally gone. It tried one more soap scrubbing and planned to soak in milk if it didn't work. I will consider geting a box of gloves as I can see how that may be useful for other cooking chores. Also milk dissolving proteins is interesting and a good tip to rememember.

Thanks!

I also use the disposable gloves and have a box that stays in my kitchen. I use them for all hot peppers as even the jalapenos will cause a problem if you rub your eyes or touch somewhere sensitive.

Annie

I don't think I will be using these peppers again. The soup I made was way to spicy. I followed a recipe and actually cut back on the spices and the amount of jalapeno.

I'm going to try to add some carrots, brown sugar, and bone marrow which all supposedly will cut the heat.

I should have stayed out of the kitchen today!

debra, we all have those "bad kitchen" days. Tomorrow will be better. Probably.

As for the jalapenos, it's another of those things that are inconsistent. Some are so hot I can't eat them at all and others are more like bell peppers. I suppose it has something to do with growing conditions, but it seems like they should all heat while some do not.

I usually work up my courage and eat a sliver raw to find out how hot they really are, and go from there. Maybe that's why I've never learned to love hot peppers, LOL.

Annie

I use cooking oil to get the jalapeno off my hands then soap it works. I tend to be a face toucher and learned the hard way before I learned the oil trick. Pain in the eyes.

Rather than the latex or non latex surgical gloves, I keep a box of these in a kitchen cabinet. I use them for peppers , raw chicken, meatloaf or other messy kitchen tasks. You can find them at Smart & Final, Walmart or restaurant supply stores.

Here is a link that might be useful: Poly gloves for food prep

I like to keep dried, diced jalapenos in the pantry. Very convenient, no prep involved and you can 'sneak up' on adding them to soups, etc.

With fresh peppers, you never know how hot they're going to be because they can be so variable. The first ones that I used out of the garden this year were sooo tame that you'd have thought they were sweet bells. The last ones from the garden were a different story! That, and there are a lot of different varieties that range from very mild to blistering hot.

I don't bother with gloves if I'm cutting up just a few peppers. Handle them with only my finger tips and avoid the cut edges of the pepper. (The skin on the pepper provides quite a bit of protection.) And transfer them using the side of the cleaver. And wash up well with soap after handling them. (Maybe a degreasing hand cleaner like Go-Jo's would be better?) When I'm working with a lot of hot peppers, then I resort to my box of disposable nitrile gloves that I keep in the workshop.

Thanks all for the lesson in peppers. I tend to avoid peppers in recipes as I don't like any of them. I can deal with bells peppers but never tried anything else. I am pulling those poly gloves on my shopping list. I cut up a total of three, but only 1 in the soup. So I have 2 more in the freezer if I ever get brave enough to use them.

Rubbing alcohol after washing my hands with really drying soap.

I'll often munch on some of the slices of jalapenos or serrano peppers while I'm cutting them up, but some of the tips here might be useful if I get some that are even hotter. A week ago I was in a local international grocery store that has packages of "Ghost Peppers" that have a label that says "Warning these peppers are extremely hot and may in fact be inedible."

I use non-latex (learned that the hard way) surgical gloves for peppers and beets. I find I can wash them and reuse them several times.

Apple cider vinegar in some water works great. I once rubbed an eye and a nurse on the phone told me to do this. It worked immediately.

Vinegar in you eye? I am thinking not such a good idea.

I'm another glove person. NOT big on super spicy food. Was making big batch of salsa to can and was mincing the H outta jalapenos to add. Would add some, let mix sit and taste beforee adding more... didn't want HOT salsa. Peppers didn't bother hands and THOUGHT I had thoroughly washed. Later touched fingers ot mouth and it was HOT!! Imagine if I hadn't discovered this before getting ready to remove CONTACT LENSES!! OUCH!!

Love super spicy food. I use a plastic bag when chopping peppers or I just throw them into a mini food chopper withe onions etc when making hot sauce.
Jalapeños are hot but milder than those haberneros or scotch bonnets watch out for those babies too!
I buy a pound of mixed hot peppers at a time. For you pepper lovers who want to have them on hand for Indian, Chinese food or chillis you can throw them in a ziplock bag unwashed and freeze whole. I do not throw the pepper in a stir fry straight from the freezer, I wash and dry it first.

Before prepping a meal we wash our hands stripping them of natural oil and leaving them clean for the capsaicin oils to cling. Ouch. Milk will work but it needs the fats. Skim not so good. In the mouth a spoonful of ice cream will help. And the hands.
Some keep a good degreaser hand cleaner, wash, rinse, wash again.
Another mentioned those that get burned in Mexican restaurants prepping hot salsa peppers daily, use a quick rinse of tequila to break down the oils. A tequila mouthwash not so bad, eh?
I have gloves for a big prep of a dozen or more, but will not bother for a quick tiny habanero and
rarely get close to the oils just being careful.
I just do a quick gojo scrub with a nail brush just in case, and DH will not wear gloves, so i keep gojo under the sink. He always gets burned.

compumom, thanks for the link. I could not find these gloves (poly loose fitting) in any area stores. I checked the link you provided that that was the lowest price I found on line. Just placed an order for 500 gloves which will last me a very long time.

I still have some cut up frozen jalapenos. I put them in a crockpot recipe with a pork shoulder. Funny but the peppers did not seem as hot and added a nice flavor.