Hidden Allergens: Pink Peppercorns, Tree Nut Allergies and how an Amazon Reviewer Helped Solve a Mystery
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.
PRINT THIS FOR TRAVELING WITH NUT ALLERGIES!
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
Christina,
This was passed on to me as I sell herbs & spices, including pink peppercorns. I’ve sent an email to Frontier Coop, where I get many of my spices in bulk. I’ll send another one to Salt Traders, who only sell salt and pepper (and have fabulous product, fyi).
Thank you so much for posting this and I will continue passing the word along to my customers.
All the best,
Alexandra
Wonderful, Alexandra!! Thank you SO much! This really makes a difference to let companies know, as I am quite sure most of them are unaware of this issue. The word is truly spreading thanks to people like you! We all appreciate it! CC
Christina, I cannot thank you enough for this information!! My son has the exact same kind of allergies as your daughter and we have had some unexplainable reactions and I think this might be the answer. It also scares me that I’ve actually used these peppercorns myself just not in the kids food.
I wish you and your family happiness and good luck with the allergies in the future.
With gratitude,
Linda
Oh goodness, that is so scary!! I am so happy that you got this information and now can avoid those pink peppercorns completely! Thank you for letting me know, and I too, wish your family and son a lifetime of happiness and no reactions! CC
Thank you for. This article I’ve passed on the information to my husband who is allergic to tree nuts. However I find it strange that there is no mention of mangoes in your article. I hope that most of you are aware that mangoes are in the treenut family. I struggle so often with the staff at our nut safe schools that still serve mango juice. Word of mouth will hopefully help save a person or two.
J
Hi JB, I have just learned about the connection with cashews and mangoes from comments to my post. My daughter has eaten mangoes in the past, with no reaction whatsoever, which is why I didn’t mention it: I simply didn’t know. I have told her that she should stay away from them in future, though, just to be safe. Thank you for sharing and hopefully others will read this and learn about the connection, too! CC
I have lived with a peanut allergy my whole life and just learned my 2.5 year old son sadly has to learn to live with it also. At least there is more awareness of it now. But I did notice the picture you used of ‘no nuts’ is actually a bag of seeds. Pine nuts are actually seeds, not nuts. I guess along those same lines peanuts are a legume. The point is these allergies are actually more subtle than a blanket of all things nuts so it’s good to get tested to know the specifics and the severity for each. Great information though and thanks for sharing.
Hi Mike, I’m sorry to hear of your allergy and now your son’s too. I have changed the photo of the pine nuts, even though my daughter is also allergic to pine nuts which is why I didn’t really think about the nut/seed difference when I first posted it. You are correct, there are so many different allergies and one cannot just say, “I’m allergic to nuts” and it covers only nuts. Many people who are allergic to tree nuts, also cannot eat almonds (stone fruit), however my daughter is fine with almonds. Then there are others who are fine with pine nuts, but my daughter cannot touch them. Good luck to you and your son, and I wish you reaction-free days ahead! CC
I often use my own experience to illustrate the differences between a food intolerance and a food allergy. I have an onion intolerance, meaning that if I eat certain varieties of onions I get very unpleasant gastrointestinal symptoms. I have a severe allergy to horseradish, for which I carry a EpiPen because that stuff can kill me. Intolerance and allergy is the difference between discomfort and dead.
Excellent explanation, Ren! Thank you! CC
Thank you so much for sharing this! My 9 yr old daughter has an anaphylactic allergy to cashews/nuts, my 13 yr old son is also allergic to nuts and shellfish and I have a severe allergy to bee stings but recently had reaction to almonds. I had no idea about the peppercorns, and did not know that fruits with stones are related to almonds either. Its hard enough eating out at restaurants and friends houses, i feel like I’m callimg food companies on a daily basis, so every little bit of info helps! I will pass this along.
Sorry to hear about all the allergies in your family, Linda! One is bad enough! Glad you found this information and yes, almonds are not tree nuts, so be careful with other stone fruits. Thank you for doing your part in informing companies about your experience; you are right, every little bit of info does help! Good luck to you and your family, CC
My sister goes into anaphylactic shock when she eats cashews too. We found out that mangoes are actually closely related to cashews, and can cause similar reactions as cashews.
I myself am allergic to latex, Geodon (a mood-stabilizer) and to something in the gelatin capsules on Advil Liqui-Gels and some antibiotics. Latex causes and Geodon cause hives, and the capsules for some reason cause me to hallucinate, itch and run a fever.
So many allergic reactions to so many things, all these comments are making my head spin! So sorry, Willow! I hope you can avoid all your allergens! Good luck and thanks for sharing! CC
Thanks for posting. Members of my family, including me, have reactions to nuts especially black walnuts. I’m lucky as I only get an uncomfortable almost painful feeling in my mouth after ingesting them but my mom’s throat closes up. I wasn’t aware of the pink peppercorns though and will pass that information on. I just wanted to bring attention to a related allergy. Latex. Apparently many people who suffer from tree nut allergies are also sensitive to the tree sap latex and “natural rubber” is derived from.The most common reaction is contact dermatitis e.g. rashes and hives and many people don’t realize that latex culprit. I did not develop or become aware of my allergy until my late teens and the sensitivity has gradually increased. I can not use a standard Band-aid without the surrounding skin breaking out in itchy, painful blisters. Recently I have noticed that the elastic used in waistbands and especially bras have started causing blotchy red rashes. So far I have had only mild anaphylactic symptoms with prolonged contact. With the amount of latex used in medical supplies and hidden in everyday materials it pays to be vigilant. Thanks again for the information and all the insightful comments from other readers!
Thank you for sharing this information about Latex, Leigh. I am so sorry to hear that you have this allergy on top of the nuts! I have told my daughter, just in case she begins to react to Latex, too. Thanks again, and good luck to you, CC