Minor household burns are inevitable. Perhaps you grab a hot handle without using a pot holder or some grease jumps out of a frying pan and burns your hand. Removing a turkey from the oven can lead to an unpleasant burn.

Whatever the cause, fast action can limit the damage and the pain.

The first thing to do is always to get the burn under cold water as quickly as possible. Leave it under water for several minutes. This immediately limits the damage and may be all that is necessary.

We heard about this remedy from a newspaper reader in Oregon who had burned his hand while blending hot soup. Applying soy sauce prevented a trip to the emergency room.

While serious burns deserve immediate medical attention, many people agree that after immediate immersion in cold water, soy sauce works wonders for everyday kitchen burns.

We’ve also heard from several readers that low-sodium soy sauce does not do the job as well as the standard product. So it could be possible that part of the effect comes from the salt in soy sauce.

Even if you use a different sort of soy sauce for cooking, it may make sense to keep a bottle of the regular stuff on hand for treating burns.

We first heard about yellow mustard during a live radio show. A caller suggested putting cheap yellow mustard on burns. At first we were skeptical. But we have been inundated with testimonials supporting the benefits of cold yellow mustard.

Some have suggested that the anti-inflammatory properties of turmeric — the spice that gives mustard its familiar yellow color — ease the pain of burns.

Others think it is the cold, creamy nature of mustard that helps with a burn.

We don’t have a good explanation for the benefits of mustard, but we can attest to the passion behind the stories.

A reader sent his experience with mustard.

“My wife got hot bacon grease on her hand. She immediately poured cold water over the burn and followed that with ice. We were debating whether to go to the emergency room when I remembered reading some of your remedies.

“I spread yellow mustard on her hand, wrapped it with gauze and let it stay for about 45 minutes. I realized that the mustard was starting to dry so I took the gauze off (about 75 minutes later).
“My wife washed the mustard off and her hand was like new. The only part that hurt was the part I missed with the mustard. In two hours she was good as new.”