Let's Talk About Kitchen Gloves!

By Ariel

Wait!  Don't run off yet!  I promise to be fascinating! (That was a lie.)

Let me explain. My garden is doing well this year, really, really well (yay!). In fact, I'm a little intimidated by what I'm growing...

[photo by me]

Just for scale, I have big hands. I also can't figure out if what I'm holding is a poblano pepper or a banana pepper, apparently I planted them a wee bit too close together. Also it should be noted that the former is a very hot pepper and the other not so much. Anyway, back to my original point!

I use a lot of pepper, onions, garlic, basically anything that makes your eyes water, on a weekly basis. With all the peppers coming in, I'm going to be doing double duty. That means I also go through a TON of disposable latex gloves. The very first time I made chili (hot hot hot!) I didn't use gloves while I cut up all my super hot peppers...I couldn't put my contacts in for DAYS because the oil would not wash off my hands. Lesson learned, folks. So, I go through a lot of gloves. The other day I was about to cut an onion and realized I was out of gloves. I had to stop what I was doing, go take my contacts out, and then resume cooking. That's annoying.  

So, my question is, does anyone use reusable kitchen gloves for actual cooking? I just get down and dirty in the dishwater with my hands, which is something I should probably stop doing (says my cuticles). Should I buy another pair of kitchen gloves just for all the slicing and dicing I do? I was eyeing these up on Amazon.com:

[Image courtasy amazon.com]

The reviews are pretty good, and they come in pink. These two facts usually lead me to buy whatever it is I have in mind.  

Does anyone use reusable gloves for food? Do they make specific food safe gloves? I turned to both Etsy and Amazon but neither really had exactly what I was looking for. I would assume I can just "wash" my hands while wearing them to clean them when I'm done, but I can't say for sure. Besides never being out of disposable gloves, I've already all but eliminated plastic bags in my house in favor of the reusable variety, why shouldn't my next step eliminate all the latex gloves I keep tossing?

Thoughts? Suggestions? Am I the only crazy person who needs special spicy food gloves?

Comments

[Em]

We have a box of disposable latex gloves that we use for this purpose (we also use them for other things like cleaning). I haven't used them for cutting up peppers yet but we just picked up some super hot (ghost chili anyone?) peppers from the farmers market and my husband used them when he cut them. I don't wear contacts anymore so I don't have to worry about that. I did cut an jalepeno or habenero once a while before putting my contacts in and it was the worst pain ever!! I don't blame you for wanting to keep your hands gloved!
Sorry I have no advice on reuseable kitchen gloves though. Your idea sounds good to me so long as they fit well enough that you can handle a knife well.

[Christy M]

I use disposable gloves when I have need (which is not very often). I am 99% sure that pepper is a banana pepper as a lady at my farmers' market schooled me just last week. Poblanos are dark green and stumpier than that one.

[Kate]

I am all about gloves for doing dishes (I love Gloveables, with the cuffs that help keep water out), but I've never tried any that allow enough dexterity for cooking tasks. For cooking, I either go bare-handed or with the disposables. I will say that the medical grade disposables are MUCH better than the grocery store versions, though.

[Kasey]

You are not alone! Either I've developed a greater skin sensitivity to capsaicin, or we've been getting hotter peppers than usual. Either way, I've been getting wicked pepper burns on my hands lately.

I'm reluctant to start getting disposable gloves, though. Like you, we've done so well at reducing our environmental impact through things like reusable bags... I might just put up with the burn rather than start buying a lot of plastic just to throw it away. Starting a search for reusable food gloves led me to this site. ;-)

There are a lot of pepper burn remedies out there, usually including rubbing butter, milk, salt, tomato, or lime juice on your hands (before the capsaicin has a chance to get really absorbed). Maybe I'll give those a try.