> Being a fan of cooking myself, I have run into this very same problem. >Thankfully, the wonderful world of chemistry provided me with a solution >which I will relay here, even though it's quite off-topic. > The acid can get really into your skin, I /think/ because it mixes with >your >natural oils. Since I deal with hot peppers often (salsa is fun to make!), >I've found that washing your hands once with soap and water, then covering >them with a thin layer of baking soda, then rinsing them again, ensures that >you will never be in riduculous amounts of burning pain if you for some >reason need to start poking at your cornea. ;) The baking soda will >neutralize those wonderful pepper acids lickety-split. I just finished putting together a salsa recipe book for my sister, and we made a few of the recipes before we shipped it off. Living in the southwest, we get access to some Mexican food that is a _tad_ bit better/hotter than most found in the midwest. I have read the messages with regards to jalapeno's (sorry, can't provide correct letters in a 7 bit ascii message) and had to wonder if you all heard the call of the same bird I have. It sounds something like this: "Woosie! Woosie!" :) jalapeno's have a scoville of up to 4500. serrano's start at 7000. habanero. Ahhhhh! I made the mistake of mixing a serrano salsa up partially by hand (wearing gloves for the deribbing and seeding) and my hands had this burn for about 2 hours. But, it was a damn fine salsa. I have not had the ...umm...cajones... to make the Xinpec salsa with habaneros yet. Why yes, now that you mention it, I too hear the bird. :) -Jot p.s.: Note to self, pdf and put online the salsa cookbook.