I like to have Thai birds eye chili on hand but use the stuff only in
small amounts. Around here they sell them only in packages of 30 or
more, so they go bad before I use them up. I was watching Jamie Oliver
a couple weeks ago and she showed a money saving trip for chilis. He
claimed it was a cheap and easy way to keep them in good shape for
months. So I tried it.

It has been a success so far. It's been about three weeks since I put
them in a bunch of them in a large plastic spice jar, the type that has
a double cap, one for getting a spoon in and the other for sprinkling.
I had cut up half a chili very finely to add to a batch of avocado
mango salsa. When I put it back I thought maybe it needed to be shaken
up because the salt had settled on the bottom.

I should have made sure the top was on tight. Some of the liquid leaked
out of the flip top and ran down my hand. I washed my hands and went on
with other things. That was about an hour ago. I have washed my hands
three times since then and my left hand is on fire. Heck, I just licked
between two fingers and now my tongue is burning.