Pink peppercorns seemed like an innocuous ingredient until they almost killed my daughter. I’m so thankful for an Amazon reviewer for solving the mystery for us.
Originally published February 20, 2014
The information about this hidden allergen is extremely important to share among the nut allergic community and I continually thank the Amazon reviewer who solved a mystery for us.
This post about pink peppercorns could very well save many lives; maybe even the life of someone you know.
My daughter has a severe tree nut allergy,* meaning if she ingests any form of tree nuts, she will stop breathing (anaphylaxis) and die. Even a trace could do the deed–it’s that severe.
Discovering that my daughter was allergic to tree nuts (she was 4)
We learned this the hard way when she was four years old. Denisa ate a chocolate Christmas ornament which was filled with a hazelnut paste. I cannot adequately describe to you what it feels like, and the terror that fills every part of your being when you hear your child barely choke out the words, “I can’t breathe”, and to see her gasping for air.
I immediately called 911, and she was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. This was my family’s very first experience with any sort of allergy, and it was life-changing for all of us. Nuts were now a dreaded, dangerous and life-threatening food.
The incident at the restaurant
Fast forward 10 years: on the 4th of July, my daughter was at a restaurant at Disneyland with one of her best friends when I received a phone call from her friend’s mother. She told me that she thought my daughter had ingested some form of tree nuts, and was wondering whether to use the EpiPen (a shot of epinephrine) for her anaphylactic reaction.
Of course, I was petrified, and told her that my daughter had to be the one to make that decision.
Luckily, she ended up getting the nuts out of her system and the use of the EpiPen was averted. I’ve since read several news reports that prove that this doesn’t always happen. Sometimes there’s a death, instead of a happy ending. My daughter was incredibly fortunate.
A mystery
At this point, the biggest problem was that the chef was baffled as to how this occurred, as he was certain that the Tortellini Alfredo and focaccia were nut-free. It was the only incident in which we had no idea what had caused her reaction. I spoke to the chef the next day, but there was still no luck in deducing what had instigated her anaphylaxis, so we were left with a mystery.
Mystery solved!
About two weeks after this incident, I was browsing peppercorns and pepper blends on Amazon.com, when I clicked on a Four Seasons Pepper Blend, which included pink peppercorns, or pepper berries. The first review caught my eye:
I couldn’t believe what I was reading, and wondered if the chef might have used this pepper blend in the pasta or focaccia that my daughter had eaten. I quickly did some research, and confirmed what the reviewer had posted. Pink peppercorns were in fact related to cashews!
Immediately, I called the restaurant, and began to ask the chef if he used this pepper blend. I hadn’t even finished asking the question, when he exclaimed, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” What a relief to finally know what had caused her reaction.
It’s disconcerting to think that we actually had a pepperberry tree in the backyard of our previous house, and I used to cut the berries and use them for various crafts. This is what the berries look like.
From Wikipedia:
Peruvian pepper (Schinus molle, also known as American pepper, Peruvian peppertree, escobilla, false pepper, molle del Peru, pepper tree, peppercorn tree, Californian pepper tree, pirul and Peruvian mastic.) is an evergreen tree that grows to 15 meters (50 feet). It is native to rhe Peruvian Andes. The bright pink fruits of Schinus molle are often sold as “pink peppercorns” although S. molle is unrelated to true pepper.
This information needs to be spread as widely as possible:
Pink peppercorns, pink pepperberries, pink berries, Peruvian pepper and whatever else they may be called, are related to CASHEWS and can cause an anaphylactic reaction in those who are allergic to CASHEWS/TREE NUTS.
Here’s what you can do to help spread the word:
- Forward this information to anyone you know who has a nut allergy. I have contacted Penzey’s Spices (who have still done nothing to label the warning 5 years later!) and other spice retailers to ask them to place this warning on their labels. If you can do the same thing, changes will happen more quickly, and hopefully avert potentially life-threatening allergic reactions in future (see update below: great news!)
- If you or your child has a nut allergy, make sure to ask at restaurants, at friends’ homes, and wherever your food is prepared if a pepper blend including pink pepper berries has been used. Inform them that the berries are related to tree nuts.
- Contact newspapers, local TV news, etc. to feature articles or segments on this information.
- Spread the info via social media; ask others to share, re-tweet, re-pin, etc.
- Translate the info into other languages, and share outside our borders.
- Pass on the information by word of mouth; you never know whose life you might save.
PLEASE click here to CHECK OUT THIS POST AS I HAVE DISCOVERED MORE HIDDEN ALLERGENS!
My concerns and some points to remember ~
* Many people throw the word “allergy” around loosely. Please be aware of how important it is that this term is used correctly.
It terrifies me that the server who is used to hearing guests order something “on-the-side” due to an “allergy”, notices they ate it anyway. Consequently, they won’t take allergies seriously anymore. Food Babe, who has hundreds and thousands of followers and has written books on the subject of food choices, advises her readers, “Go as far as telling the server you allergic to butter and dairy, soy and corn.”
I, and many others have commented on her post to tell her how this is endangering those who have LIFE-THREATENING allergies which occur within seconds. However, she refuses to remove this wording in her post. In fact, she banned me from her Facebook page when I wrote to tell her the consequences from her advice.
Many people don’t realize that simply touching nuts, and then touching other food is enough to cause anaphylaxis in some allergy sufferers, my daughter included. However, there are others whose allergies are even worse than hers. Think about the nuts being consumed in planes; it’s frightening.
UPDATED 10/19: I flew Norwegian airlines for the first time in June and was horrified at the filthy condition of the floor, including peanuts! I gave them another try this past week and guess what? The same conditions! Do they never clean their planes? This is unacceptable, especially for nut allergy sufferers!
Similarly, there is no barometer to measure or communicate how serious an allergy is. It’s completely open to interpretation. These things directly impact my daughter’s life and so many others’, too.
Finally, please be mindful of the impact that use of the word “allergy” can have.
UPDATE: my daughter attended Villanova University which has a “no nut” policy, which we didn’t discover until after we placed our deposit! I was elated. If you are concerned about your child going off to university with a nut allergy, besides being a top university, Villanova takes allergies extremely seriously. She graduated without an incident at the dining halls and restaurants.
pink peppercorns
I had no idea that pink peppercorns were related to the cashew family of nuts. I will do my part to spread the word. Thanks for this information.
Please do! Thank you so much, Peggy!
As someone with multiple allergies – not just food allergies I am very appreciative when I come across articles like this which expand my knowledge of “hidden” allergens. I have discovered that dried and ground mushroom is often listed as “other natural ingredients” if is makes up a minimal portion of the ingredients. Mushroom provides the depth of flavor and umami so many chefs desire. Even that miniscule amount can trigger a severe reaction. I carry multiple Epipens on me whenever I am eating out and always notify my server about the allergy. Even in restaurants I have eaten at before without a problem. Suppliers change ingredients all the time without notice. If a server or manager or chef do not take the allergy seriously, I leave.
Oh that’s terrible, Linda! I can’t believe they don’t have to list mushroom if it’s in the product, no matter how miniscule the amount! I’m so sorry you have to deal with that and anyone who doesn’t take your allergies seriously. I really rant about those people who are making it more difficult for you by claiming to have an allergy when they don’t. Best of luck in avoiding your allergens.
I believe the threshold is 2% for lusting individual ingredients. A paramedic informed me after he had researched ingredients that may have caused his sons’ reaction. Many companies consider this proprietary information and won’t confirm the other natural ingredients. The only good to have come out of this is my girls have been servers and take customers seriously when they state they have an allergy.
Good to know, Linda. Thank you and that’s wonderful about your girls. Thank you!
Thank you Christina !
My daughter has a coconut allergy. She has to be careful of tree nuts because of it.
I will tell her about the pink peppercorns.
Wow, I’ve never heard of that, but often wondered why my daughter isn’t allergic to coconuts since it’s a tree nut. Glad you saw this info. CC
I’m sharing this again, Christina – an essential read for everyone! Thanks for this info.
THank YOU, Jill for helping to spread the word. So important!
I’m so sorry to read this, what a terrible situation for everybody involved. It must be a nightmare that every time you go for a {family.} meal, you have to triple check what ingredients are being used in the preparation of each dish.
I thought that I had an inconvenience avoiding “spicy” foods as the spices make me feel hot and faint. But, if I sit quietly and drink cold/ iced water, the feeling of being uncomfortably flushed will soon pass away.
I don’t have a horror of not only having an epicure injection but; I don’t then have to travel to A&E to get the all-clear.
Christmas is just around the corner and with my food shopping; all I have to do is avoid spicy food in mince pies etc. It’s stories such as Denisa’s that makes you take two steps back, and re-assed the little things in life that are truly important.
I know, Ruth, it’s all relative, isn’t it? I look at others who have multiple allergies and just cannot imagine how they function. Thank you for your thoughtful comment. CC
A couple years ago I, being a good grandma, made some homemade granola bars for my 2 granddaughters. The oldest girl began having an allergic reaction, swollen throat, hives and extreme nausea and stomach cramps. The doctor at the hospital said she had a full-blown anaphelaric reaction.
We went over the ingredients I had used, and it was confirmed she was allergic to flax seeds. Flax is everywhere now days and this poor child lives in fear of accidently consuming a flax seed since it is not listed on foods as an allergen. She refuses to eat all breads, pizzas, and even toasted breadcrumbs because of possible cross–contamination. She carries an EpiPen everywhere and my daughter and I do, too.
Some people, mostly adults, do not respect her allergy and brush it off as an inconvenience to them when she refuses to eat a hot dog bun or pizza at school hot unch days.
It’s so difficult for her to eat out.
I feel for your daughter and her journey in this world with something that could innocently kill her. I wish her the best.
Oh Shirley, that’s so terrible for your granddaughter, too! I truly think we need so much more education on allergies because people who have never had any experience with them, simply have no clue that they are so deadly. I feel for your granddaughter, too, and hope that she will possibly outgrow her allergy (it’s not too common with nuts, but hopefully with flaxseeds?) Good luck to her!
I know this is an old post but near the end it says ” (see update below: great news!)” but I didn’t see any update with great news? has it been removed?
Goodness Gale, I don’t see it! Where exactly do you see the update? I’ve scanned up and down and just can’t see it, and I don’t know what the great news might have been. Sorry! Send me a screen shot, if you can.
For whatever it’s worth at this late date, your post has really helped me. My baby girl has been diagnosed with anaphylactic cashew pistachio allergy and we are on our way to Dinseyworld ! She will be eating at restaurants three meals a day for the duration. I am positively terrified! We have another child with medical problems with serious and severe food sensitivities. I willl just add, with regard to very long back and forth argument, THESE THINGS ARE NOT THE SAME! As I have both in my children I guess I am in a unique position to weigh in. I would rather have my son get “glutened” and be ill any day of the week rather than have even a single anaphylactic reaction in my daughter. No one is saying a food sensitivity is not significant. It is! My son gets sick and can have a cascading reaction that requires medical attention. It has run our lives for seven years. But it is not even in the same ball park as “my child can STOP BREATHING AND DIE WITHIN MINUTES” if she eats this. Just sayin’
Hi Naomi, I’m so glad you found this. Please do ask at restaurants if they use the 4 blend pepper as it’s so innocuous! Sorry to hear your daughter has severe allergies, too. Good luck on your trip with both of your kids, that’s so hard! I do completely agree that when people make a massive deal about a gluten intolerance, it s NOT the same as almost dying because your airway is closing up. Two completely different kettles of fish. I wish you all the best and thank you for your time to write the comment! CC
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My 5 y/o daughter has a life-threatening allergy to Cashews and Pistachios. A friend of mine had forwarded this info to me a couple years ago. I bought my oldest daughter a Taylor Swift Incredible Things body spray for Christmas this past year. Our daughter with the nut allergy found the body spray and sprayed it on herself. She broke out in hives! The box didn’t have the floral ingredients so I googled it and the very first ingredient was Pink pepper! It infuriates me that there aren’t any warning labels regarding this. If you google Pink Pepper in perfume you will see it is used frequently and even in some high end perfumes such as Chanel!
Thank you for letting me know, Brittany! It is terrible that they don’t label more things like this. My daughter is also a big Taylor Swift fan and she could have easily done the same. I hope we both have better luck with things like this in the future!!
Thank you so much for this post. I have always been allergic to tree nuts but as I’ve aged I’ve developed more and more allergies. Recently I’ve had a couple of severe reactions and couldn’t figure out why (especially since I was the one cooking). Turns out it was the red peppercorns in the pepper blend I had just bought. When I read your article it made perfect sense! I also react to mango, elderberry, blueberry and buckwheat (as well as numerous other foods. Thank you so much for putting this out there. I was starting to second guess every food I was eating.
Allergies are horrible! I’m glad you found this too, Shannon! Good luck to you and hope there are no more “surprises” in your future!
My child has a minor pink peppercorn allergy and no other allergies. He can eat tree nuts fine, even black peppercorn but one bite of pink peppercorn and hive all over. We have no family history of food allergies
Allergies are so incredibly unpredictable! So sorry to hear that your son is allergic to pink peppercorns, but I’m so glad that’s all. Glad you realized that that is what he’s allergic to. CC