I created toxic waste today

[treeskin]

Not on purpose, but...one of the tricks we use to start the trickier hot peppers is to soak the seeds in hot water overnight. Then you strain the seeds out (carefully, so as not to lose small expensive seeds). I strain into a beaker, so if I lose a seed in the process, I can recover it.

When you start with 3 kinds of habaneros, pequins, 3 strains of chiltepins, a couple of wild peppers, and an ornamental tobasco strain, this strangely scented, yellow-orange liquid deserves a biohazard label.

Instead of an EPA escort off property, it was carried VERY carefully to the headhouse sink and dumped down the drain. And was followed shortly by a quart or so of strong vinegar (have to rinse my hands, you know).

A couple of fingertips on my left hand still tingle, where I dipped my fingers into the "brew" while chasing seeds.

Comments

[jettisonangel.livejournal.com]

Glad you were careful, I shudder to think if someone got even a small amount in the eye. eeek!

[treeskin.livejournal.com]

Yup. I got traces of it in my eyes Tuesday afternoon, when we were cleaning some of the seed, that was plenty bad.

[ladymurmur.livejournal.com]

Whey I went on the ProjectServ trip down to Mexico, I had a run in with some chilis. We were in a little town in Chihuahua called SanBuenaventura, and it was harvest time for the chilis. The school we were helping to build new facilities for apparently go a deal on their years' chili supply if they would provide the labor to pick it. Sent me and 8 other girls out to the field, and we picked a few thousand kilo of chili. It rained (pretty, misty, romantic, warm rain) while we were out there, and we discovered that the water droplets that we brushed off the leaves would actually sting our skin.

Later in the week, we took shifts roasting the chilis, stripping off the skings and the seeds and hanging them to dry. You better believe that we didn't touch our faces with our messy hands (had to wear gloves or our skin burned), but the afternoon that we ended up laughing until we had tears running down our faces was a mistake - the fumes hitting the tears was enough to buuuuuurn!!!! Which, of course, only made us laugh harder, which made it burn more... Ah, youth. :-)