[CH] Re: Fists of Fatali

chilehead@tough-love.com
Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:31:32 -0400 

 From Jean Andrews great book - Peppers, The Domesticated Capsicums: 

"*In November 1983, I gathered Habaneros and removed the seeds in order to 
save them, carelessly forgetting to wear rubber gloves. Such a failure 
usually results in hands that burn and continue to burn every part of your 
body that you touch for a day or two. Earlier that day I had been cleaning 
seashells in a plastic container filled with a concentrated household 
chlorine bleach. On an impulse, I dipped my burning hands into the chlorine, 
then rinsed them immediatiely. I observed that this wash in a 5.25% aqueous 
solution of sodium hypochlorite, NaOCl followed by a rinsing in water, 
completely eliminated the irritant effect. 

Dr. Tom Mabry of the Department of Botany, University of Texas at Austin, 
suggested that the alkaline bleach ionizes the phenolic hydroxyl group in 
the active ingredients, all of which are phenolic amides (e.g., 
dihydrocapciacin), making the compounds water soluble; at the sametime, the 
ionized phenolic ring in each ccompound would be readily oxidized by the 
bleach, thereby altering the structures and properties of the compounds. 

It is not necessary to use the chlorine bleach full strength; a solution of 
one part common bleach to five parts of water works equally well." 

Kinda like the chilehead version of "Newton and the Apple". 

Dave
TLCC 

>  
> 
> Pods, 
> 
> At this year's Open Fields I picked about two pounds of fatalis, and this morning I washed them in the kitchen sink. As I tumbled them around in the water, I noticed that two or three of them had spoiled enough that they tore open, and I could smell fatali, which made me sneeze. 
> 
> I knew my hands were in weak fatali tea so when I finished I washed them thoroughly. 
> 
> As you can imagine, that wasn't enough to get rid of all the burn.  It's not very strong but it is noticeable, and the odd thing this time is that it's not just on my palms and fingertips as usual, it's also on the sides of my fingers and the backs of my hands.  I feel like I've been bare-knuckle boxing with El Grande. 
> 
> Also this morning I stemmed, seeded and split an oven rack full of long twisty reds, i don't know the name but they're about 4 on a hot scale of 10.  I roasted them starting at 4:00 this morning and 160 degrees; later I kicked it up to 200 and they still weren't completely dry when I shut off the oven at noon. 
> 
> 
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