Do your hands itch too when you cut pumpkin?
Allergic skin reactions to certain foods can be pretty irritating. For example, I can’t peel a mandarin unless there’s a tap and soap nearby, because as soon as I work a finger under the peel, I get a strange, itchy rash—or rather, a pale, hard, sticky layer that can’t be wiped off and can only be washed off my hands with water and soap. Do you also have a similar reaction, perhaps to something else?
It’s well known that quite a few different complaints can occur in the kitchen. There are both contact allergies (when contact with certain substances from outside the body triggers an allergic reaction) and irritant reactions. And these can be caused by different things in different people. But this was a new one for us to add to the list: pumpkin hands! Huh?
Burning itch
Just like what I described when peeling mandarins (and oranges, by the way), contact with, for example, a butternut squash can in some cases cause an allergic skin reaction that makes it feel as though the skin is completely tight and starting to burn and crack. A sticky but simultaneously stiff, orange-ish layer can also form that is difficult to remove, and mainly makes you lose the desire to continue with that entire pumpkin soup altogether…
A whole family
And although no precise offending substance appears to have been found yet that causes this reaction, American doctor Morgan Rabach says that an unidentified allergen is present in various types of squash and, in the same Cucurbita family, also in cucumber, melons and courgettes. But the good news is: if you suffer from this reaction on your skin, it doesn’t mean you can’t eat them.
Give someone else a sweet look
The best way to avoid the skin reaction is to use food-safe gloves in the kitchen, buy pre-cut pumpkin, or give someone else in the house a very sweet look when you’re craving pumpkin risotto. And if it does happen, wash your hands (there’s a good chance it will go away on its own after a while), take an antihistamine, or apply a little mild hydrocortisone acetate ointment or cream to your hands. Hopefully, you can then simply carry on, because an autumn or winter without pumpkins is rather dull.
Also read:
- Can you eat pumpkin skin?
- How to peel pumpkin easily
- feed me vegan Recipe: vegan meatballs with turmeric pumpkin curry
Source: Bon Appétit
