Microwaving Chiles (was Re: [CH] Can you spell botulism?)
Donald R Jordan (drjordan@rocketmail.com)
Thu, 1 Jul 1999 08:38:03 -0700 (PDT)
I strongly advise against microwaving hot chiles, but for a different
reason. The essential oils in the chiles (i.e., capsaicin) tend to
vaporize at a lower temperature than water, therefore before you know
it, you can have an invisible cloud of pure cap vapor in the kitchen.
This is not near as much fun on the lungs and eyes as it is on the
tongue.
Obviously, this is only a problem with hotter chiles, but I learned it
first hand trying to dehydrate some chile piquins. Can you say
chemical pneumonia?
===
-DrJ-
Helotes, Texas
PGP Public Key at:
http://pgp5.ai.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x01BC316C
---Marc Norman <Marc.Norman@utas.edu.au> wrote:
>
> In anticipation of bumper crops up north and repeated warnings about
> botulism during canning and pickling, does anyone know about the
effects of
> microwaves on these little beatsies. Lore I've heard has it that
microwaves
> are especially effective at eliminating microbes, and that only a
minute or
> less in the nuke is at good or better than several minutes of thermal
> boiling due to direct disruption of the bugs by the microwaves. Any
truth
> to this or just suburban legend? For the last several seasons I've
had good
> results (i.e. not dead yet) pickling jals in the microwave rather
than on
> the stove - is this just the watchful hand of El Grande protecting the
> ignorant?
>
> cheers and chiles
> Marc
>
>
>
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