“Every chef has their battle wounds,” says Gail Simmons.
Cuts, burns, bleeds, and scrapes are all a part of the trade whether you are in a professional kitchen or just using a hot plate at home. Even the most skillful chefs can end up with nicks despite their careful knife work.
Here are the three items we always keep in our kitchens to help our wounds quickly heal, so we can get back to cooking the food we love.
Honey
Jamika Pessoa suggests using honey to help with burns and cuts.
If dicing onions gets dicey, Jamika will dab a small amount of honey directly onto the wound and then cover it with plastic wrap so that she can keep on cooking.
“Honey is also said to have antibacterial properties and promote healing, but for me, I find it helps relieve the pain and stinging,” she says.
Lavendar Oil
Daphne Oz’s secret for kitchen bumps and bruises is lavender oil. Daphne says she puts it directly on her skin because she says, the oil soothes her skin with a numbing-like effect.
Daphne also suggests putting a few drops of lavender oil on a vacuum cleaner bag for a naturally-perfumed room when cleaning. We love a double hack!
Arnica Gel
Gail keeps arnica gel in her pantry in case those bruises or light burns become too painful to manage. Small studies suggest arnica can help with burn pain although it shouldn’t be kept on broken skin for extended periods.
