Chemical Engineering in Daily Life – Question 54: What should you do if you have eaten food containing an excessive amount of mustard oil?
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I remember in the 1990s, after completing my postdoctoral work, I had to leave the university and enter society proper. The colleagues in the research team are going to have a meal together. When we went to a Chinese restaurant and the menu included mustard tubers, a colleague from the other side of the Himalayas put an entire mustard tuber in his mouth at once. I looked at him with sympathy, not even having time to say anything. His crying was already evident. He raised his hand, pretending to scratch like a monkey’s claw. May I ask: when you accidentally eat food with more mustard (oil) and it ends up in your mouth, how can you effectively prevent tears and a runny nose from coming on? Once again, please try to answer from a chemical engineering perspective as much as possible.
Drink vinegar or rinse the mouth and face in the bathroom.
Mustard oil is soluble in ethanol, so it’s possible to drink some alcohol.
Is mustard alkaline? What about drinking vinegar? But when it comes to seafood, even if mustard is placed in a vinegar dish, it’s still extremely pungent. ------------------------- What makes mustard so potent isn’t its spiciness, but rather its intense aroma that gives people a dizzying sensation
Actually, this problem isn’t that complicated. Don’t think too much from a chemical perspective; consider it from an industrial chemistry standpoint.
From my personal experience, mustard causes irritation in the nasal passages, which leads to excessive tearing and runny nose. My solution is to change the way it’s applied, so that it doesn’t enter the nasal passages; I pinch my nose and blow hard to disperse it. Since mustard is volatile, blowing hard helps reduce its concentration, thereby minimizing the irritation
Adding some sugar and vinegar can mitigate the spiciness; if tears start to flow, taking deep breaths immediately will help relieve the spiciness.
Pinch the nose and fan with your hand; the convection effect is very good
1. When eating mustard, don’t be hasty; avoid exhaling. Wait until it has been swallowed before slowly exhaling through both the nose and mouth, so as to prevent excessive irritation to the nose. 2. Adding some sugar or vinegar to mustard can mitigate its spiciness and also enhance the flavor of both the mustard and the food.