Food First-Aid

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claras corner, egg first aid, eggs and hot water scalding, first aid at home, Food first aid, home tips, hot water, naija blog

Hello Ndi oma! 🙂

Working on my opening statements,  lol!

This week has been mega hot in Lagos or at least my area, I don’t know how it is elsewhere.  I thought late rains would usher in harmattan but alas! The sun had other plans, may God protect us from this ozone layer matter.

A few months ago I mentioned how I will share foods that expressly have healing properties especially after I have tried them out. I totally forgot one or rather two that I have always known way back and have worked like magic! Then hot water scalded me recently and I remembered!  It wasn’t until a few years ago that I got to know raw eggs and raw pap are great first aid tools when scalded with hot water. As an SS3 Dormitory prefect, I sent a junior student to help me boil water because I was having very bad cramps. Poor girl over filled the custard bowl, boiled it with a boiling ring then attempted carrying it with her bare hands?! She naturally got scalded and promptly rubbed the area with her hands in order to disperse the pain! 😦 . I felt so bad because the spot peeled and formed a wound instantly.

I want to share with us tips on how prompt food first aid can help prevent the above incident from happening even though most people know these days. I boiled water for rice and forgot to measure it. When it was time to add the rice I remembered I was going to cook basmati and not regular rice and should have even added it before the water boiled so, I turned off the heat and decided the measure the hot water, unfortunately the bowl I was using had a handle which wobbled and the water, in all it’s boiling goodness poured on my left fingers, all five of them. I took a moment to stir at the hand thinking to myself (my favourite set of fingers! What will become of them? How can I move around with scalded wrinkly fingers biko nu? ) Then like lightening,  a light bulb lit up at the end of the tunnel and I remembered! Abandoning the remaining water, rice and bowl, I ran to my egg basket, broke an egg and intanstly dipped the now painfully throbbing hand into it. Once dipped in the raw egg, the hand throbbed a few more times then stopped. I removed it so air would dry the egg and prevent a hot sore from forming but the hand started paining me again so I dipped it in the egg and left it there for about 20 minutes. After that, I removed it from the egg and let it dry on it own, by that time the pain was bearable so I took this shot and carried on with cooking the rice. Raw pap/akamu/ogi does the same thing. Simply mix with cold/cool water into a paste and either pour over affected area or dip the affected part into the paste.

Egg had dried, left it overnight

Here are the tips I want to share:

Incase of a domestic accident involving hot water-

DO NOT RUB affected area

DO NOT TOUCH directly

DO NOT DIP IN WATER OR POUR WATER ON AFFECTED AREA -doing so will make moisture collect under the foreskin, a hot sore forming is most likely 90% .

 

Break an egg or more depending on how large the body surface is.

Pour raw egg over affected area and keep pouring raw egg over the spot 2-3 more times so the pain is soothed even after it has dried.

If the part of the body is small like fingers, you can dip it into the raw egg, leave it for about 15-20 minutes in order to ease the pain then allow it dry. In this case, there might be no need to increase the egg layers.

Raw pap/ogi/akamu works the same way as eggs.

Fresh pap

Mix pap with cold water preferably, into a smooth thick paste and pour over affected area, gently add 2-3 more layers of pap over the spot then let it dry for not less than 2-3 hours.

Mixed into a thick paste

This instant food first aid;

Soothes the pain especially if the egg or pap is cold.

Prevents the foreskin from forming a water boil/ hot sore. As the egg/pap dries it helps the different layers of skin cling to each other (in my own layman’s explanation). In a few days, the affected foreskin will peel and reveal new soft skin underneath but there will be no scarring, wrinkling or any need to seek further medical attention. 

If however the area still hurts or forms a wound, please do seek immediate medical help so the affected area doesn’t get infected but I highly doubt a wound will form especially if you don’t touch directly with your fingers.

**Unfortunately, kids get scalded even more often than adults. They will instantly attempt to rub the area in a bid to stop the pain, if you witness the scalding, as quickly as you can, keep their hands away from the spot, will be difficult but try so a terrible scar doesn’t form.

***Teach this to your nannys/helps at home as well.

My fingers today (taken with my old camera, they are still yellow 🙂  )

I hope I have helped someone!

Happy midweek.

Azu 🙂 .