Are you the type to laugh at other people’s misery? Or simply the sensible type, willing to learn from other people’s mistakes? Whichever you might be, read on to discover how I learned a very important, but garlicky, lesson…
I know what you are thinking fellow garlic lover, what possible downside could there be to so much garlic? Alas, it was an error of technique and not volume that caused my sudden downfall.
What could possibly account for all of these dramatics? You see, while I was well aware that you need to wear gloves when handling hot peppers, because the oils can burn your fingers, I had absolutely no idea that if you chopped enough garlic it could do the same thing! I have cooked with garlic my whole life, chopped it, peeled it, preserved it. I have somehow never chopped enough of it at once to have this happen before though. In fact, I have never even heard of it!
I just found myself with my fingers suddenly on fire after chopping a tray of leftover garlic for the dehydrator. I tried rinsing them, running them under cold water, scrubbing them with dish soap to remove extra oils… Nothing really worked. The best I got was a slight improvement of the pain.
I tried looking up what to do online. (Apparently some unfortunate people can have a severe contact allergy to raw garlic and it can literally burn their skin??? Yikes. Put my stinging fingers in perspective.) About the same advice as for peppers; milk, yogurt, dish soap, oil, baking soda. I went for the yogurt because if nothing else cool temperatures seemed to help.
Weirdly enough, it worked! Also, very portable if administered in a teacup…
It started to feel better almost immediately and the pain slowly dissipated over the next few minutes.
So now you know my tale of garlicky woe, and can either laugh at my ridiculous mistake, or learn my lesson the less painful way and use gloves.
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