Onions and Peppers

[albionjessica]

I love to cook. I have learned so many great recipes from family, online, and cookbooks, but nowhere have I found a remedy for the after-effects of using onions and peppers. I suppose I could just wear gloves every time I have to handle them, but how inconvenient and costly!

Basically, my hands take on a very unpleasant smell after I cook with onions and peppers. It usually lasts at least a couple days no matter how much scrubbing I do. I have tried every soap in our house, tomato sauce, lemon juice, bleach (that just seemed to add to the smell), ammonia, white vinegar, and wet coffee grounds.

Does anyone know another remedy I can try?

[VALENT]

Try rubbing your hands with vegetable oil before handling these vegetables.

[MoonShine]

Try this...after you're done,rub a spoon between your hands,under running water. Kinda use the spoon like you would use a bar of soap,if that makes sense

[Charleen]

I don't mind the lingering onion and pepper smells on my hands, but the garlic smell bothered me.
What I wound up doing was to dice several cloves of garlic at once and store them in a tightly sealed glass jar in the fridge. Fill the jar about 3/4 with the diced garlic and top it off with olive oil. So, everytime I needed garlic, I'd just take some out of this jar and not have to stink up my hands cutting it.

Make sure the jar doesn't tip over in the fridge. Ask me how I know.

[whodunit]

I rub my hands on my stainless steel sink under runing water. It works.

Mrs Whodunit

[Txsteader]

Along the lines of what MoonShine said, on a cooking show I was watching the other day, the chef said that rubbing your hands on stainless steel will remove strong cooking odors.

[LvDemWings]

If all else fails the dollar stores carry disposable plastic gloves. I get 50 in a pack for a buck. They are like the ones that are worn in the food service industry.

For onions atleast you can cut them up and freeze them in freezer bags so you don't have to worry about smell and you'll save a step when your cooking.

[albionjessica]

Thank you all for the helpful comments. I really like the idea of chopping up a bunch all at once and freezing it or storing it in the fridge. I'm slightly allergic to latex, so when I buy gloves it's usually a lil more... but I shall check the gloves at the dollar store next time I go to see if they carry non-latex varieties.

I tried rubbing my hands on our sink after I got my hands good and stinky with onion, and I'm thinking even though we have a metal sink... maybe it's so old and has such a thick layer of grime on it that I can't actually touch the stainless steel anymore. Seriously, I scrub that sink every day, but it didn't help the smell.

Our spoons did! I sat there in front of our kitchen window that looks out onto the main thoroughfare of our apartment complex, furiously rubbing spoons all over my hands. It felt like some strange spoon worship ritual. It worked though, and I plan to worship the spoon gods every time I cut up offending roots and vegies in the future.

Thanks!

[OldFarmGal]

Steel wool pads work, too.

[ejsmomma]

I've always hear to use lemon juice after cutting onions. Suppose to work, I usually just deal with it. Also, about the garlic in oil, I would like to ad that you are NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER, suppose to store garlic in oil at room temperature. Causes some kind of really bad bacteriea or something. I found it while googling garlic. The companies that produce the garlic in oil in bottles have some vigerous thing they have to do to keep it safe. Just thought I'd throw that in. Good luck!

[cider]

Baking soda works for this.

[lilmommajnn]

I have an addition to that question....how to get the smell out of your mucous membranes (sinuses, tears, yes, that too....even my saliva smells like onions when i have to cut them at work!). Any suggestions?

Jenni

[Meg Z]

I wash my hands in a bit of salt to get rid of the onion/garlic problem, without adding another smell. Works great.

Meg

[Christiaan]

I have a small stainless steel bar about the size of a bar of soap but only 1/4 inch thick. I rub my hands with it under running water. There is a reaction between the SS and the sulfur compounds in the vegetables that neutralizes the odor. Works great and is a lot quicker than using flatwear. Mine cost $1.50 at a restaurant supply store.

[fin29]

Originally Posted by lilmommajnn

I have an addition to that question....how to get the smell out of your mucous membranes (sinuses, tears, yes, that too....even my saliva smells like onions when i have to cut them at work!). Any suggestions?

Jenni

Cut the onions near an open flame, like a gas burner or a lit sterno can. The flame burns off the offending sulfur fumes before they get to your nose and eyes. Wearing gloves will prevent the juice from entering your system through your fingers and making your spit and tears stink...

From your friendly catering nerd.

[JayinCT]

I swear by the vegetable oil before and washing with tooth paste after. It works wonders. I use that for cleaning fish. Works everytime!

Jay