If you have a little paper cut on your finger, avoid picking up chopped garlic and chilli. It hurts like *&£$%*!!! I doubt there's many on here that don't know that already!
And another thing -- even if you think you didn't touch the chiles with a particular finger, DO NOT use that same finger to rub your eye. You may not know, but your eye sure will.
Try grinding dried chillies including habenero to make chili powder. By the time I finish a 2 pound batch I am crying, my nose is on fire, and I can barely breath :lol: the dust is a killer!
Kind of cold when I need a batch mid Jan. :lol: 2 local restaurants use my blend so I make quite a bit every year. I really need to look into a better spice grinder!
seal paper or other small cuts with super glue...really! Nothing can get in them and it takes a long time for it to wear off..it's the same thing as New Skin or that Bandaid brand liquid bandage, only you already have it.
I grind chiles in my VitaMix, put a wet bar towel over the top...no dust. Just make sure the towel goes into the laundry quickly and only handle the outer side..
Mary, if you can't afford a Vitamix, get a good quality sheet rocker's or welder's mask at the hardware store. That's what I use because our menu has Cajun blackened stuff that I can't handle the fumes from. Works good. Same for grinding horse radish.
I can't believe you haven't taken care of this yet. Just buy an inexpensive, not too awful burr grinder like the Solis Maestro. About $100. You'll have about four times the grinding capacity and it won't toss the powder around as much. Grinds to "espresso" levels of fineness, which is very fine. Additionally, it won't put as much heat as a "propellor grinder" dies into the spices, so they won't age as quickly.
The mask suggestion is a good one as you're not suffering when you grind, you're suffering when you empty.
If you can afford a Blend-Tec or Vita-Mix they're awfully handy to have around. You probably don't need that much power though. We grind our chiles with a 3/4 hp commercial Waring BB180. It's awful nice to have a blender that actually does things like make GOOD smoothies, milkshakes and slush drinks like frozen daiquiris and margaritas. You can purchase an extra stainless container/blade assembly for your spices and other hardcore uses, and use the polycarbonite for everyday use. Or, the other way. Actually, I saw the blender with the stainless container at KAtom for $95; know polycarbonite containers are available for under $40; and fwiw the unit with the poly container was $75.
But spend more (if you can) get more (if you need it). Blend-Tec/Vita-Mix, the 3hp Warings and Hamiltons are great if you need the duty cycle, or want to grind grain.
Why not just wear gloves when prepping peppers? My skin is so sensitive that cutting just a hot banana pepper can cause it to burn for 24 hours or more. I tried washing in everything I could think of, soaking in milk, etc. I solved that problem by always wearing gloves when messing with peppers.
I did grind some japs in a coffee grinder and that didn't bother me but for any quantity, I'd do them outside.
I am still looking, the Sumeet grinder looks to be one of the better spice grinders on the market but I will look into the commercial blenders, better to have a tool that multitasks.
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