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
Thank you for this informative article, I had no idea!
May I ask how your daughter got the cashew substance “out of her system” without having to use the epi-pen? Are you referring to just vomiting, etc. — if so, that fills me with some hope for our daughter (severe peanut & tree nut allergy). Has your daughter’s allergies lessened as she’s gotten older, since the epi-pen was not required in this case?
Hi Jenna, sorry to hear that your daughter also has allergies. Yes, my daughter vomited and got very lucky. Sometimes there’s a condition where the allergen’s effects seems to go away, but then they come back, which really scares me. Her allergies have definitely not lessened, unfortunately. I don’t know how old your daughter is, but when you get to college choices, Villanova has nut-free cafeterias and food places! We had no idea, but what a godsend! Good luck with your daughter’s allergies-I hope she never has a reaction!
This is admittedly VERY much beside the point when the real and very important point here is that there are real and serious allergies out there that need to be acknowledged. But as one who is extremely gluten sensitive, with serious and painful reactions, but not genuinely celiac, I was curious to read some of the comments and your responses concerning the “those not allergic” comments in your article. I found it interesting that once confronted by those who considered themselves in the category of people who ask for things on the side because of genuine allergies, but ones that do not cause anaphylaxis, you back pedal and say that you’re really just talking about those who are just trying to lose weight or do not like a particular food. Really? Firstly, that’s not what you said in your article, and secondly, I wonder how you know the particular reasons and motives behind other restaurant goers. It sounds like a case of resentful “no one has it as bad as me, but they act like they do.” You had a perfectly captive audience without the bashing of those with less serious allergies. It was unnecessary.
Kristina,
I agree with you on one thing: your comment is VERY much beside the point. We should be focusing on the content at hand: PINK PEPPERCORNS CAN KILL PEOPLE WITH SEVERE NUT ALLERGIES.
However, I disagree with you regarding the “captive audience” because I do not make anyone read my posts, not even my family. In fact, even you CHOSE to come to my site to read my post.
I also disagree with you regarding your accusation that I change my stance, and with the statement that I feel that “no one has it as bad as me.” Actually, my daughter has it much worse than me, because she’s the one with the allergy. There are others out there who have it much worse than her (with multiple anaphylactic or airborne allergies) so you are absolutely off-base in your assumption. I will make an assumption that you do not have a child with life-threatening allergies because if you did, I highly doubt my post would insult you. No where in my article or my comments do I “bash” anyone except for Food Babe and those who claim to have an allergy that they do not, and that is because they endanger my daughter’s life and others’ lives by doing what they do.
I stand by everything I said and my opinion is firm: someone with an anaphylactic reaction to a food DOES have a much more serious condition than someone who has an allergy or sensitivity where they will get sick, break out, or even have a hospital stay because the consequence for the former is DEATH, and that’s pretty damn serious.
Christina
Thank you for writing this. I have many food allergies/sensitivities and have had life threatening reactions twice, but not until I was in my 50s. I do not mean any disrespect, but I have to say I am baffled that people with life-threatening reactions to foods would eat in restaurants. As Ruchira said, we all have a right to decide what we eat. But we don’t have an inalienable right to eat in restaurants. I have cooked all my own food from scratch ever since my second event, which was 8 years ago. I don’t want to die.
I understand your viewpoint, but there are circumstances that a bit out of our control unless we make a dire decision. Let me explain: my daughter has to eat every single meal in a cafeteria at this time of her life as she is a college student. The only thing she could do differently is decide not to go to college. I also don’t want to be disrespectful either, but even if you cook all your own food, there is no guarantee that you won’t have a reaction. It could also be a brand new reaction to a food you’ve never been allergic to. It could happen to any of us. We do our best and that is all we can do. CC
[…] For those who have or have family members with tree nut allergies, I came across this post today, and wanted to share it. It could save someone’s life. Our son has a nut allergy that is very serious, and I know how careful we have had to be about ingredients. The mother in this blog post warns of peppercorns and how some can trigger a tree nut reaction in those afflicted. Parents or individuals think to check ingredients, but would never stop to ask about this. You can read the post here. […]
[…] https://christinascucina.com/2014/02/hidden-allergens-pink-peppercorns-tree.html […]
[…] https://christinascucina.com/2014/02/hidden-allergens-pink-peppercorns-tree.html […]
Thank you for posting this warning about hidden allergens. Very important information! My seventeen year old daughter has peanut/tree nut/shellfish allergies and we continue to check labels like it is our religion and learn new things all the time. However, please do not be afraid to use that life saving epi-pen. In your post you state that it was up to your child to decide when to use it. According to our allergy doc at Johns Hopkins, Robert Wood, who is THE leader in peanut allergy research, USE THE EPI-PEN if there is any indication of an allergic reaction. It is not harmful to use it, but we all know what tragedies happen when it is not used. Also, you say that the allergen got out of her system, which I assume means that she vomited. But there are bi-phasic reactions that really sneak up on you after the initial reaction which can be more deadly than the original reaction. This is why it is important to go to the hospital for every single reaction so the allergic person can be observed. I have spent hours and hours in the ER with my child on a couple occasions so that she could be observed and cleared from the possibility of a second reaction.
Again thank you for the pink peppercorn and argan information! And happy label checking!!
Hi Lisa, thank you so much for your note. I have since read about the bi-phasic reactions, which scared me to death as I had never known that was possible. Thankfully she’s not had a reaction since I wrote the original post, but she does always carry her epipen and I shared all this info with her (she’s on her own at college, now). I’m very glad you found the info about the peppercorns! Good luck to you and your daughter too.
Lisa in the above post makes a very important point. Never hesitate- especially long enough to make a phone call to discuss whether using the pen or not. That is plenty of time for your airway to close & you can become unconscious. Then always to the ER- as Lisa highlighted. Great info to share! Thanks.
Someone just sent this article to me. Thank you so much for sharing your I’m sure nothing less than scary experience. There are so many “hidden” allergens that we simply just don’ t know, but to make it worse is that chefs in the kitchen may/may not know either. This is why the food allergy community needs better solutions to at least attempt to make eating more simple and safe. That’s what safeplatefoods.com seeks to do!!! I will definitely be sharing this with my readers. God bless!
Thanks, Adrianne! I’m glad you’re doing what you’re doing as it is much needed! I’ve liked your FB page and followed on Twitter! Good luck!
Thank you Christina! Best wishes to you as well! Hopefully we’ll connect again soon.
Hi, not sure if this is the right place to ask this, but I was wondering if anyone else has latex allergy, and the latex food fruit syndrome.
I have found it difficult out to dinners as I am always asked what are you allergic to, when I try to tell them to just cook it as I had requested. No Sauces,no spices, no garnishes, no Fruits and no salads.
It seems that waitress just don’t listen .when I mention allergies I get a mouthful of ” Your just saying this because it is your live style and they ignore my request, thus I have a reaction (anaphylaxis) or I just sit there watching my wife eat as I wait for my meal to be recooked again for the third time.
First of all, I’m so sorry I missed seeing your comment until now, Jose!
I’m also sorry to hear about your latex allergy. Yes, I have heard of many people having a latex allergy, so it is NOT a lifestyle choice! We really need to educate the public as to the dangers of ignoring people’s allergy requests. Maybe if you put your EpiPen on the table and THEN tell them you will stop breathing and die if your food is prepared in contact with Latex, they might listen to you more. Good luck!