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Baked goods: nut substitutes for allergy sufferers


thegreatdane

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You can buy soy nut butter in the grocery store. I know nothing about making it myself, but that is what the "peanut allergy" kids I know use.

However, I'm sure you are aware that soy is also one of the top allergens...

Cheryl, The Sweet Side
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Hemp seed butter is another option. A fairly expensive one, I admit. Try your local health food/co-op/natural grocery. I haven't had the butter, but the seeds are very good.

--
Saara
Kitchen Manager/Baker/Dish Pit

The C Shop

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Thanks, all. After posting, I called the local Whole Foods and asked. They pointed me towards Tahini (sesame) butter, and soy butter. I'm hoping to make a product that won't bother allergy sufferers but it's true that soy presents some problems for some people, and possibly sesame, too. It seems food allergies are on the rise. Or, our awareness of them. Now, I think I'll just make the best product I can and appeal to the most I can. Can't please all the people all the time. Too bad, because a friend's son is allergic to nuts and that's what got me on this in the first place. I may try the sun butter, too. I love sunflower seeds.

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Hemp seed butter is another option. A fairly expensive one, I admit. Try your local health food/co-op/natural grocery. I haven't had the butter, but the seeds are very good.

Hmm, I didn't realize there were people who actually enjoy eating hemp seeds!

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced" - Vincent Van Gogh
 

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they're medicinal, right?

8-)

Unfortunately, all the good stuff in hemp is in the trichomes of the plant. The medicinally good stuff, anyway.

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced" - Vincent Van Gogh
 

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i know, just playing to popular belief. Chocolate's anandamide actually stimulates the same THC receptors, although you'd have to consume roughly 27 lbs of it at one sitting to get the same effect, at which point you've probabaly got larger issues 8-)

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i know, just playing to popular belief.  Chocolate's anandamide actually stimulates the same THC receptors, although you'd have to consume roughly 27 lbs of it at one sitting to get the same effect, at which point you've probabaly got larger issues 8-)

That's interesting, Sebastian -- I never knew that chocolate contained anandamide!

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced" - Vincent Van Gogh
 

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Chocolate inherantly has quite literally thousands and thousands of compounds..i keep a pretty good list of it at work, and there's many things in there where i've said 'who'da thunk it?' myself. Most of them, like the anandamide or phenylethylamine, while present, are there in such small amounts (caffeine is this way too - many folks believe chocolate's loaded with the stuff, when in fact it's just in there at pretty small lvls).

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Chocolate inherantly has quite literally thousands and thousands of compounds..i keep a pretty good list of it at work, and there's many things in there where i've said 'who'da thunk it?' myself.  Most of them, like the anandamide or phenylethylamine, while present, are there in such small amounts (caffeine is this way too - many folks believe chocolate's loaded with the stuff, when in fact it's just in there at pretty small lvls).

I realize that the levels of anandamide in chocolate are, for all practical purposes, physiologically insignificant. What makes it presence suprising is that anandamide and the cannabinoid system is found only animals, and not in any plant. Plants don't have the cannabinoid receptors that anandamide acts upon in animals, so it seems out of place.

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced" - Vincent Van Gogh
 

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Chocolate inherantly has quite literally thousands and thousands of compounds..i keep a pretty good list of it at work, and there's many things in there where i've said 'who'da thunk it?' myself.  Most of them, like the anandamide or phenylethylamine, while present, are there in such small amounts (caffeine is this way too - many folks believe chocolate's loaded with the stuff, when in fact it's just in there at pretty small lvls).

I realize that the levels of anandamide in chocolate are, for all practical purposes, physiologically insignificant. What makes it presence suprising is that anandamide and the cannabinoid system is found only animals, and not in any plant. Plants don't have the cannabinoid receptors that anandamide acts upon in animals, so it seems out of place.

I seems out of place until we think of who cultivates, transports, and propagates seeds; animals. Plants make themselves attractive, or we select those that are, to continue their propagation. I think there's a book out with that theme, The Botany of Desire?

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Chocolate inherantly has quite literally thousands and thousands of compounds..i keep a pretty good list of it at work, and there's many things in there where i've said 'who'da thunk it?' myself.  Most of them, like the anandamide or phenylethylamine, while present, are there in such small amounts (caffeine is this way too - many folks believe chocolate's loaded with the stuff, when in fact it's just in there at pretty small lvls).

I realize that the levels of anandamide in chocolate are, for all practical purposes, physiologically insignificant. What makes it presence suprising is that anandamide and the cannabinoid system is found only animals, and not in any plant. Plants don't have the cannabinoid receptors that anandamide acts upon in animals, so it seems out of place.

I seems out of place until we think of who cultivates, transports, and propagates seeds; animals. Plants make themselves attractive, or we select those that are, to continue their propagation. I think there's a book out with that theme, The Botany of Desire?

Sure, but that still leaves the question: why would Theobroma cacao, apparently uniquely among the plant kingdom, produce anandamide? Even Cannabis sativa itself, which produces dozens of different cannabinoids, does not produce anandamide. And aside from that, my understanding is that the concentration of anandamide is, for all practical purposes, too low to be physiologically significant. If that is truly the case, then the function of anandamide can not be to make the plant appealing to animals. OTOH, I suppose its possible that the anandamide concentration, while too low to affect humans or most other animals, is sufficient to affect some anandamide super-sensitive species involved in scattering/distributing/propagating Theobroma cacao.

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced" - Vincent Van Gogh
 

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  • 1 year later...

A potential client is asking me about peanut free cakes. Now, I know the basics

about cross-contamination, and checking the labels on ingredients. Is there anything else I need

to know? Can anyone recommend a good resource for info

I've always said no in the past to people who have peanut allergy concerns, but this person

was recommended to me by a good client. I hate to say no, but don't want to send the kiddies

into anaphylactic shock.

www.onetoughcookienyc.com

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I would not take the risk myself. How can you be sure your area is peanut free from previous usage?

I haven't used peanut butter in anything for quite some time now....purely by coincidence, too.

That said, I've been reading my ingredient labels and the only iffy ingredient I have on hand would

be cocoa and chocolate. Now, I'd probably suggest to the client we stay away from those

flavors, make sure all utensils, pans, and equipment is scrubbed down.

The National Restaurant Association has a pamplet on this subject, and I've requested a copy.

www.onetoughcookienyc.com

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Hi, I'm 47, and I've been deathly allergic to peanuts since I was an infant. I started out baking cookies when I was seven or eight and have since progressed to scratch puff-pastry, baklava, and other wonderful things:).

I use King Arthur flour, Callebaut bulk chocolate, organic bulk cocoa, grocery store butter, grocery store sugar, and just about anything else -- as long as you cleaned between whatever it is you last made and the peanut allergy person's baked goods, I don't see the problem.

I use walnuts, pecans, almonds, and hazelnuts all the time -- it's the peanuts that make my throat itch from 10 feet away -- and even if someone ate it the night before, I can still smell it on their breath at lunchtime the day after.

But honestly, your normal thorough washdown should be good:).

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But honestly, your normal thorough washdown should be good:).

'Should be' is good enough if it is for yourself. 'Should be' is not good enough for my retail establishment.

I'm sorry I offended you. If she cleans after the last time she uses nuts, there will not be a problem. Flour, sugar, butter, eggs, leavening, and cow-dairy products do not contain peanut or other nut products.

I have never found there to be a problem with Callebaut -- but of course since it is her business she should read the labels. I was giving her a starting point to investigate.

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I think the best place to start is with the potential client. I have several friends with peanut allergies. None of them are suseptable to reactions in an enviroment like the one describe for your shop. Most of them can eat foods that say they are manufactured in facilities that also handle peanuts. If they are comfortable with your precautions, you can always have them sign a waiver.

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For this situation, I've used the rice krispie cake from Colette's birthday book. I've made race cars, mostly, and a few castles. They're different from a typical layered cake, and sometimes that's ok; sometimes not. It depends on the child, whether they are always having something "different" and they want what everyone else has on their birthday.

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In the past, I've run the other way from clients who have peanut allergies, much

like K8! But, in reading all I have about peanut allergies, Fiona seems to echo whaI've found out.

Stay away from the obvious, and a good cleaning (I'm a maniac about that on an everyday

basis) will suffice.

I will actually have a phone conversation this weekend with the client (we've only emailed up to this point). Not only does she need cake for her child's party, but for other parties that her child

will be attending! She even offered to invest in a different set of pans to be used only for

these purposes, but I wouldn't take her up on that offer.

The bottom line is, I like to sleep through the night too much to take a major risk, such as this

might be.

Thanks to all who have taken the time to read and weigh in.

www.onetoughcookienyc.com

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But honestly, your normal thorough washdown should be good:).

'Should be' is good enough if it is for yourself. 'Should be' is not good enough for my retail establishment.

I'm sorry I offended you. If she cleans after the last time she uses nuts, there will not be a problem. Flour, sugar, butter, eggs, leavening, and cow-dairy products do not contain peanut or other nut products.

I have never found there to be a problem with Callebaut -- but of course since it is her business she should read the labels. I was giving her a starting point to investigate.

Oh no no no, I'm not offended at all. No worries. I didn't mean to come off that way at all. I just can't/don't cater to life threateneing allergies for people--that's just me--that's what I meant. I agree too. It should be good enough for an individual but it's too big a liability for moi or for any shop I think. I don't want the pressure y'know?

I mean sometimes you sit around and wonder how a cake or cookie was received by the people at the party. In this case I'd be sitting around praying to God nobody got sick. Yeah, no not for me.

See, she wants to give you a set of pans. I can't operate that way. Other people with their particular issues will follow. Remember that poor girl who died from a kiss from her boyfriend from a peanut allergy?

Not trying to be a downer, it's just hard enough to be in business as it is. I mean sugar free or egg free is kinda different or vegan, nobody's gonna die if something got cross contaminated. Peanuts and celiacs and folks with the bad allergies, the possible consequences are too great.

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