Removing strong food smells from your hands

[Richard Kilgore]

Okay. I smell like an onion, and a sharp, clawing, biting one at that. I cut up a four pound bag of small yellow onions to make onion confit. My hands are crying a river and after washing multiple times the snarkey onion will not leave.

Help - oh please help - fellow eGulleteers, this miserable set of hands. And what to do to wash clothes and towels that have been attacked?

[heidih]

Do you have a stainless steel sink or other piece of stainless in the house? If so, after scrubbing all goobers from under fingernails, run your hands all over the stainless steel - magic!

[Dakki]

Rub half a lime on them?

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Wear nitrile gloves when handling onions in any large quantity?

I usually, shame-facedly, immerse my hands in a bowl of weak bleach solution for a minute or two when I forget the gloves and end up reeking like the wrong end of an ogre. It works like a charm.

[Richard Kilgore]

Thanks all. I had tried rubbing them on the sides of a ss saute pan before crying uncle - to no effect. But tried again more vigorously and this time it worked...until the next time Iwashed my hands and a mild onion odor re-emerged.

Next time, nitrile gloves. This time I'll go to the bleach soak and report back.

I have never, ever had such an effect from onions! Never. Ever.

[scott123]

If you really want to magnify the deodorizing effects of stainless steel, scour the stainless sink (or saute pan) and then squeeze the liquid from the scouring pad onto your hands. The more s/s particles you can wash your hands with, the better.

Also, don't forget that an onion's aroma producing compounds are oil soluble (hence the difficulty removing with soap and water). Rubbing your hands with oil and then wiping with a paper towel will go a long way in removing them.

No onion/garlic smell can survive the one two punch of an oil rub and then scouring pad wash.

Edit: And bleach, seriously? Who wants hands that smell like bleach?

And while I wear gloves for a lot of kitchen activities, I'm not sure I'd want to lose any tactile sense when chopping onions, even if it's only a little bit.

Edited December 24, 2011 by scott123 (log)

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Yes, bleach, seriously. It's the only thing I've found that really works, and the bleach smell comes off very easily with a little soap and water. For pernicious onion penetration, which is what Richard experienced, it's also the fastest method to stop having hands that smell like Frankenstein.

As for tactile sensation, that's why I suggested nitrile gloves - they're almost like a second skin and very little of the sense of touch is impaired. So little in fact that there's no problem, at least for me, chopping onions while wearing them. I'd say that if you have sufficient knife skills and a good sharp knife, there wouldn't be an issue anyway.

[Mjx]

The problem is probably sorted by now, but the issue of Cook's Illustrated that reached me yesterday suggested using sugar, which purportedly 'act like porous sponges to absorb some of the odor molecules' (January & Februar 2012, p. 17). The procedure calls for wetting the hands with warm water, then rubbing them for a minute with a tablespoon of sugar.

[Porthos]

The problem is probably sorted by now, but the issue of Cook's Illustrated that reached me yesterday suggested using sugar, which purportedly 'act like porous sponges to absorb some of the odor molecules' (January & Februar 2012, p. 17). The procedure calls for wetting the hands with warm water, then rubbing them for a minute with a tablespoon of sugar.

I have to dice up an onion in just a few minutes. I'm going to purposely rub some of the leftover root onto my hands and give this a whirl. I'll report back.

[Porthos]

Amazing! Sugar works very well.

[BarbaraY]

Do you have a stainless steel sink or other piece of stainless in the house? If so, after scrubbing all goobers from under fingernails, run your hands all over the stainless steel - magic!

This has always worked for me. Sometimes I have to rub longer than others but since my water spout is very long to get large pots under it, it doesn't usually take long and it works.

Some of you may have noticed that some of the cooking catalogs sell a stainless steel egg as a deodorizer..

[HowardLi]

Never understood the SS thing. I don't think it works, myself.

[GlorifiedRice]

I made a Paneer curry yesterday, it included Kasoori Methi rubbed in the hands and sprinkled on top at the end of cooking.

It was delicious but I cannot remove that smell from my hands. I think its all over the laptop and my computer area too via touch transfer.

I cant get it off, Ive scrubbed my hands and the computer area 3 times. Its making me queazy now.

Any tips to remove that Fenugreek/Kasoori Methi smell?

[CatPoet]

Glorifiedrice: Use lemon or ginger to rub on your hands, that is what my Indian friend says.

 

Lemon washes away many weird smells,

[LizD518]

What about washing your hands while handling stainless steel?  I usually clean my chef knife (carefully!!) by hand after chopping onions or garlic to get rid of the odor as the SS neutralizes it somehow.  Or rub your hands all over your stainless steel sink.

[GlorifiedRice]

I tried everything. It keeps returning on my one hand only, so i washed it in lemon, Fit veggie spray and bleach...I now only can smell bleach

lol

[ChrisTaylor]

Use baby wipes. They refresh your hands, too.