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
I have a peanut allergy, and was amazed to hear a (TV) physician state that it was perfectly safe for a person with a peanut allergy to eat food fried in peanut oil because the allergen was not present in the “refined” oil. Allergens are most commonly proteins, and it is impossible to completely remove them from oils due to chemical bonding. That Nationally televised “advice” could potentially be deadly. Fortunately, my reaction is not severe at this point, but I cannot handle or cook with peanut products without itching and/or breaking out in hives.
Wow! That is really scary, Claire! Misinformation like that is deadly. Good luck and hope you avoid everything peanut, always! CC
The FDA and the soy corp. say the same thing with soy oil yet there are plenty of people (me included) that are allergic to it. Rarely do you find a label that considers soy oil an allergen.
Actually my daughter’s allergist told us the same thing. He said the refined peanut oil is so processed that there isn’t protein left in the oil. He also said that peanut oil from a health food store on the other hand would cause a reaction. She was a toddler when we were there, but she has only had hives so far from peanuts/peanut butter. We still avoid peanuts and carry an epi pen though.
Watch out for Duncan Hines mixes. They are processed near tree nuts but they don’t state it on the label. The brownies my son ate, we are lucky he is alive. These companies need to be accountable, this is something that could kill someone. Crasins are another product with sunflower oil and they don’t state in in the ingredients. Another product I stay clear of.
Thanks for posting this, Claire. I stay clear of all packaged and processed mixes for this and other reasons (multiple ingredients I do not want my family ingesting). You’ve reminded me that I do not have a brownie post on my blog. I need to rectify that! Thank you for stopping by! CC
Wow! I am allergic to sunflower seeds and had been wondering why snacking on craisins was bothering my throat. I really hate when it is hard to figure out what the ingredients are. I am also allergic to nutmeg and corn(fortunately I do not seem to react with small amounts of corn syrup), making processed food a nightmare.
THANK YOU for this important share!!
You are so incredibly welcome, Alexandra! Please pass on the info to others :) CC
I’m sharing this all around today. Six months after your original post, it’s still making its way around :) My husband is tree nut allergic, and I have many friends whose children are as well. Thank you so much!
Thank YOU, Sayre, for sharing! I’m so glad you found this post! Take care, CC
Thank you so much! A friend shared this with me and I am sharing with others. My daughter has nut allergies and we have done as well as we can to avoid it all, but sometimes there is a reaction seemingly out of nowhere, even though there is no warning on the label. It’s so scarey! And more than likely it’s due to some vague detail like this. I swear nothing has increased my prayer life like parenting a child with nut allergies! :)
Angela, I am right there with you! My daughter is in England without me right now and it’s been one of the hardest things to realize I can’t always be there in case something happens. I’m so happy you learned this information and now can be more careful to ask in restaurants if this pepper is being used, and in turn educate the chefs for future patrons! Thank you for letting me know and I hope your daughter never has a reaction, ever again. :) Christina
Thank you so much for this information! My “daughter-in-love” passed this on to me because my grandson has a nut allergy. We both love to cook and we have this pepper blend in our kitchens! I will be cleaning it out today! As precious as my grandson is, I can only imagine what you went through with your daughter! God bless you and your family and thanks again for this info!
What a sweet comment! Thank you, Angie! God bless you and your family too, and now that your pepper blend will be out of your kitchens, it’s one less accident waiting to happen! So happy that you were made aware of this. Keep passing on the information! Thank you again! Christina
We discovered the same thing about two years ago when my daughter had a reaction to a bison burger that she ate at Ted’s Montana Grill. We couldn’t figure out why until we learned that Ted’s uses a pepper spice blend that includes pink peppercorns. My daughter is anaphylactic to cashews so we always ask now whether there are pink peppercorns in the food item. Certainly not enough people know about this, so it was good to see your post.
Best –
Amy
Glad to hear that your daughter was okay after being exposed to these berries, but yes, very few people, restaurants and chefs are aware of this allergen. Thank you so much for writing to let me know, I really appreciate it! :) CC
my son is also allergic to tree nuts. He was retested this year for allergies and his doctor decided to test him for sesame seed allergy as well. He said children who have tree nut allergies are also showing sensitivity to sesame seeds. sure enough he tested positive for sesame seed allergy. Maybe this could be an explanation for one of these people who had a mystery reaction.
WOW! Four of six of us in my immediate family have life threatening peanut & tree nut allergies-myself included. We’ve been managing the allergies and living nut free for over a decade. That said, I had NO idea about pink pepper berries being that closely related to cashews. I’ve personally experienced mystery reactions after dining out that I’ve never been able to track down. Thank you si much for sharing the information, Christina!
Oh I am so happy to hear that you read my post, Kirsten! I have a feeling that a little grating of that 4 blend pepper could have been the culprit to your mystery reactions. Thank you for letting me know that you read this and I’m sure will be passing on the info everywhere you go! Stay safe! CC