Post Punk Kitchen Forum

When I cook with Ghost Pepper/Jolokia pepper sauce and some other hot pepper sauces it really bothers my throat and lungs...what do y'all do? Deal with it, or use some sort of mask or smock or something?

I've had to tie a bandanna around my face like an outlaw in some circumstances. I don't really know if that's enough protection from ghost chili, though. Maybe a ventilated mask for painting/yardwork would work?

You can get ex-Soviet gas masks for pretty cheap these days.

I recommend a whole NBC protective suit, though:

I would totally love to cook in one of those!

I have to ask...if it bothers your throat and lungs so much, are you sure you want to put it in your mouth??

I am with choirqueer on this one.

I had hoping this was going to be good advice about how to not die while cutting onions. My cooking problems are so much more mundane. (I want to get some of the onion-cutting goggles that Nathan Fillion had on Castle. Genius!)

i believe i've seen people cooking with ventilators, like what you'd use in a painting booth, especially making harissa or chili sauce.

I have nothing helpful to add to this thread, but I recently learned that cutting onions can make your eyes tear up even if you don't have a sense of smell. Fascinating! (My brother lost his sense of smell after passing out and hitting his head.)

This reminds me. We have a picture of my sister as a little kid wearing her swimming goggles while helping chop onions for thanksgiving stuffing. That probably doesn't help you at all.

Are you coming on to me?

When my father makes a ton of pepper sauce (he only blends the sauce, so it has to be a lot for the fumes to be too much) he wears a regular gas-type mask that he got from Home Depot. It's the type of thing they recommend for use in uninhabitable attics.

Something like this:

Yeah, it's not the smell-- it's gasses released by the onion forming SULFURIC ACID and DISSOLVING YOUR EYEBALLS. No, really.

I am SUPER sensitive to cutting onions. I have to chop fast and then take, like, a 15-minute break to get my eyes under control. I've even used lab goggles, to no avail. I think onion goggles would have to be pretty much airtight to work...

As far as cooking and eating stuff that causes lung distress, it seems like when I've cooked with hot peppers I've noticed more burning from taking a whiff of the cooking dish than I have eating it-- you get concentrated pepper vapor right in your nose rather than the oils on your skin, which I guess is more noticeable? I don't know if that theory holds, but it sounds good and matches what I've noticed...

I don't know if it would work with the peppers, but when my BF cuts onions, he points a small table fan at his face to waft away the vapors. Usually when I wear my contacts to cook, the onions don't bother me, but they do if I'm wearing my glasses. I assume it has something to do with the contacts covering such a large portion of my eye.

So, yeah. Maybe a fan would help?

I use a pair of old science lab goggles. They make me look like a huge dork.

Better not let your neighbors see you. I'm pretty sure they'd think you're cooking something other than food.

And out of curiosity, what are you cooking with ghost peppers and are they fresh? I've only ever seen dried. When I cook with fresh peppers I usually try not to heat them too much because I like the flavor of raw peppers.

Stick the onions in the freezer before chopping to slow down the enzymatic reaction that occurs when you damage the cells and use a very sharp knife.

Thanks, now I'll remain TOTALLY CALM when my eyes start watering while chopping onions. Not really.

I bought about 20 bottles of hot sauces lately, but only on is ghost pepper -so no, not fresh peppers.

I'm using this:
http://www.amazon.com/Daves-Ghost-Peppe ... B001PQTYN2

I added some to onion last night with veggie bacon bits and poured it onto a potato. It gave Jordan an asthma attack...

About the onions, I totally wear ski goggles to chop them. I can't do it otherwise- my eyes tear up within minutes and I can't see and I chop my fingers off. People make fun of me for wearing ski goggles to chop onions, but my eyes are super sensitive.

That doesn't help with your pepper problem, sorry.

I find my contacts keep me from watering or reacting to onions and peppers at all. If I have on my glasses I cry like a baby.

My neighbors, if they've seen the random headgear and other crepe I've had show up in the mail in the past couple of months, probably already think I'm somewhat eccentric. Or they just say, "Oh, Santa Cruz" and move on.