Monday, August 27, 2012

A Simple Solution for Jalapeno Lung


 
I was canning hot pepper marmalade and pickling some jalapenos a friend deposited in our car, sort of like zucchini this time of year.  I was wearing gloves, sure, but as soon as I cut into a jalapeno, I started to cough from the fumes.  They were strong.  In desperation, I grabbed a scarf and tied it over my nose and mouth, bandit-style.  It worked!  It worked great!  No need to bother my husband to dig around in his stuff to find a respirator-thingy.

And I learned something about canners in this canning session as well.  I was using half-pint jars and expected a yield of only12 jars, so I decided to try my cute 70s pot with a trivet in the bottom instead of my big enamelware canner.  I got this idea from Marisa's new book - she doesn't even own a big canner.

Well.  The ding-dang jars bobbed around and fell over in my cute pot before I could set them all in.  My big canner has a rack that holds jars firmly.  I burned my fingers trying hastily to fix everything into my cute pot; there was cussing, but the children were outside.

My husband walked through the kitchen as this was going on, and flew for the camera to take a picture of me.  Then he very nicely ran down to the basement to fetch my jar lifter which I had forgotten (hence the burned fingers).

Fortunately, everything sealed and is now safely tucked away.  Six half-pints of hot pepper marmalade to eat with bagels and cream cheese or scrambled eggs, and 7 half-pints of pickled jalapenos. 

5 comments:

Tracy said...

I've been there... all of it. Jars falling over, burning fingers, cussing, all of it. The worst burn for me, lung-wise, is with habanero peppers. And it isn't so bad while you're cutting them. It's when you rinse your knife off under hot running water and the steam carries the oils through the air and into your lungs. My throat closes off, and choking ensues. Happy Canning!

Unknown said...

Wow! Those both sound good. I'm impressed - and your kerchief even coordinated with your shirt ; ) I'm a wimp when it comes to hot stuff...I don't even put hot peppers in my salsa!

Christian - Modobject@Home said...

I love the prettiness of the peaches sitting in the wooden bowl, and the sunflower. I do not love burned fingers.

BLD in MT said...

Margo, I quite literally laughed out loud at this photo. I recently discovered this same bit of bandit, respiratory-tract-saving genius. I wasn't smart enough the first time I made my own cayenne hot sauce, but boy, lesson learned!! I started up the blender and could hardly breathe. The second time I thought ahead and yup, bandit mask to the rescue! Worked well, indeed. No one was around to take my photo though. : ) Your husband is so sweet.

And hot pepper marmalade!? How have I not heard of this before!?

Polly said...

That first photo made me laugh out loud.

I used to chop onions wearing goggles. Looked crazy, but worked just fine!