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I just prepped (skinned, gutted and cubed) a bunch
of butternut squashes and my skin is all crusty and
cracked - anybody know what it is in the squash that's
having that effect? Washing my hands with simple soap
seems not to be doing much good. I'm wondering if
it's a coating-type effect (eg, some kind of latex) or
else maybe an astringent or drying effect. Weird...

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"Model Citizen" <archetype@attbi.com> wrote in message
news:Hf5xd.782437$8_6.235601@attbi_s04...
>
> I just prepped (skinned, gutted and cubed) a bunch
> of butternut squashes and my skin is all crusty and
> cracked - anybody know what it is in the squash that's
> having that effect? Washing my hands with simple soap
> seems not to be doing much good. I'm wondering if
> it's a coating-type effect (eg, some kind of latex) or
> else maybe an astringent or drying effect. Weird...

I had this happen once, too. Google wasn't much help when I looked just
now -- a couple of people making vague references to enzymes like those in
facial peels and to "starch" being released. I didn't find anything
definitive, but am interested in the answer.

Smokey

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Model Citizen wrote:

> I just prepped (skinned, gutted and cubed) a bunch
> of butternut squashes and my skin is all crusty and
> cracked - anybody know what it is in the squash that's
> having that effect? Washing my hands with simple soap
> seems not to be doing much good. I'm wondering if
> it's a coating-type effect (eg, some kind of latex) or
> else maybe an astringent or drying effect. Weird...
>

My first thought is that a lot of winter veggies are dipped in paraffin
or rubbed with mineral oil prior to sale. And sometimes the wax or oil
is laced with fungicides, too (perhaps you're reacting to that???) It
should be pretty obvious if there's a coating; and at this time of year,
when the crop is still pretty fresh, the ones you bought might not be
coated at all.

If that isn't the issue, maybe this is: Was the squash underripe (pale
in color, with greenish rays emanating from the blossom end)? If so, I'd
go with your last hypothesis. Try rinsing your hands with a little
vinegar (white or cider) followed by water in order to neutralize the
astringency.

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Smokey <SmokeyinNewEngland@yahooey.com> wrote:
> I had this happen once, too. Google wasn't much help when I
> looked just now -- a couple of people making vague references to
> enzymes like those in facial peels and to "starch" being released.
> I didn't find anything definitive, but am interested in the answer.

Heh. I'm surprised you found little info on the WWW.
This is a perfect example of the sort of situation
that can bring the pseudo-scientists out in droves.
Psycho-Fact Alert!

Anyway, I would bet serious cash that it's nothing
to do with "starch". My skin appears as if it might
have a very thin layer of something coating it, and
that coating appears to be slightly orange, same tint
as the squash-flesh. Of course, it might just be
that my newly-dried skin has some pigment from the
squash-flesh on it but has no other coating - maybe
it's a layer of my own skin cells that have simply
dried to such an extent that they appear to be a layer
of some foreign substance.

At any rate, I applied some Udderly sMOOth Udder Cream
(sold as a hand cream, says my wife - go figure)
and most of the drying and cracking seems to have
been reversed. I then scraped my hands with my very
sharp pocket knife and didn't remove anything that
seemed to be a coating of goo, so my current theory
is that the squash flesh/juice somehow has a sort of
drying action, rather than a coating action.

I didn't really handle the external surface of the
squash much at all, so that other suggestion about
coatings or fungicides seems to me unlikely. At least
superficially, for now, under the circumstances,
based strictly on personal observations, results of
further investigations pending, YMMV, etc...

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Model Citizen wrote:

>
> At any rate, I applied some Udderly sMOOth Udder Cream
> (sold as a hand cream, says my wife - go figure)
> and most of the drying and cracking seems to have
> been reversed.


Bag Balm (lanolin base plus other good stuff) has been used for decades
as hi-test hand lotion. Sounds like you've got another brand of
basically the same stuff. Glad it worked.

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Model Citizen wrote:

> I just prepped (skinned, gutted and cubed) a bunch
> of butternut squashes and my skin is all crusty and
> cracked - anybody know what it is in the squash that's
> having that effect? Washing my hands with simple soap
> seems not to be doing much good. I'm wondering if
> it's a coating-type effect (eg, some kind of latex) or
> else maybe an astringent or drying effect. Weird...

It seems like a crusty coating on my hands.. I use a
nonmetallic scouring pad. Seems to do the trick.

--
Dan

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Model Citizen wrote:
> I just prepped (skinned, gutted and cubed) a bunch
> of butternut squashes and my skin is all crusty and
> cracked - anybody know what it is in the squash that's
> having that effect? Washing my hands with simple soap
> seems not to be doing much good. I'm wondering if
> it's a coating-type effect (eg, some kind of latex) or
> else maybe an astringent or drying effect. Weird...
>


I don't know what causes it, but it's not a coating
because the butternut we grow in the garden has the
same effect. I've started using latex gloves when
I peel butternut squash because the feeling is so
unpleasant.

gloria p

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