A failed experiment.

[rivka]

Probably most of you know that I have oral allergy syndrome, a cross-reaction to pollen that means I'm allergic to most raw fruit. I can't eat anything with a core (apples, pears), anything with a pit (peaches, cherries), any compound berry (raspberries, blackberries), strawberries, or blueberries - unless they've been cooked.

I remember what all those fruits taste like. I didn't start developing fruit allergies until I was twelve, and some of the allergies didn't develop until even later. (I just lost blueberries last year.) I had plenty of time to develop an abiding love for strawberries with whipped cream, cold, sweet, deep purple plums, blackberries right off the bush.

I can eat cooked fruit, but I've always been careful about it. Canned pears, apples cooked to pieces in pie, frozen blackberries microwaved into soupiness and poured over ice cream. It's better than nothing, I guess, but I don't really get the fruit essence that way.

A couple of weeks ago, curiousangel brought home two pounds of strawberries from the farm stand. He sliced a few of them up for me so I could microwave them for ice cream topping, and they absolutely knocked my socks off. Sliced fresh strawberries microwaved for one minute taste an awful lot like raw strawberries - they still have all of the concentrated scent and flavor that's simply missing from frozen fruit. And a minute in the microwave was enough to denature the allergen. We've since repeated the strawberry experiment several times, always in small doses. With whipped cream. So happy.

Tonight I tried a plum. Plums and strawberries were my two favorite fruits as a child, but I lost plums very early in the development of my allergy - probably seventeen years ago, now - and I couldn't really remember what they tasted like. (You don't get a lot of cooked plums and plum-flavored things out there - or at least, not things that taste like the raw fruit.) I just remembered loving them. I cut the plum up into thin wedges, microwaved it for a minute, and sat down full of anticipation to eat it.

One sliver. Slightly sour, not particularly exciting. And then, a moment later, an itch ran along the floor of my mouth and under my tongue, leaving a burning feeling in its wake. I set the bowl of plum slices aside, went into the bathroom, choked down a revolting quantity of Children's Benadryl, drank a full glass of water, and waited for the reaction to subside. Damn.

I still feel the itch slightly, all along my jawline and neck and - strangely enough - on the top of my head and in my ears and on the palms of my hands. My tounge and the insides of my cheeks have a slightly unpleasant buzzing sort of feeling to them. I think I probably interrupted a hell of a reaction with that dose of Benadryl. Probably not a potentially fatal one, but certainly a miserable one. One small wedge of microwaved-one-minute plum.

So. Back to cooking fruit to death. No more experiments. Damn.

It's time to stop itching now.

Comments

[wldrose.livejournal.com]

I am truly sorry, I think the fact that you use to know what it was like makes it all the worse.

Ash

[kightp.livejournal.com]

If you'd like, when my sister returns from Scotland next month I can ask her for her recipe/method for making low-sugar preserves.

The fruit is quite thoroughly cooked, as it is in all jam-making - but the result isn't the slightest bit "jammy." The flavor - if not the texture - is the closest thing I've found to fresh fruit, and our favorite way to put up the summer's bounty. We use it as a topping for cereal or ice cream, spread it on toast (although it's a bit wetter than jam), stir it into yogurt or just eat it by the spoonful, straight from the jar. She tells me it's not difficult to make.

[trinker.livejournal.com]

I'm really glad to hear that you've got strawberries back, somewhat. I'm so sorry to hear that you've lost blueberries, and that your experiment with plums was so spectacularly unsuccessful. I can't tell you how relieved I am that the reaction was something you were able to curtail somewhat.

I'll hunt up some of the East Asian candies that manage to have fresh fruit flavor; they're not as good as fresh, but they're the best I can think of as a substitute.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

Oh crud. :(

But I'm glad you're okay.

Years ago, someone I was close to who was anaphylactically allergic to anything capsicum (paprika, bell peppers, habaneros, pepper spray) got a piece in Chinese food as she was talking to me on IRC, and said, "Oh crap, I just got pepper, I've got to take Benadryl. I'll let you know how it goes." Then I didn't hear from her until the next day, and was sure she'd keeled over or been hospitalized.

She'd just fallen over asleep from the Benadryl.

[redbird]

Can you keep the strawberries, at least?

And does fruit-flavored ice cream work?

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Can you keep the strawberries, at least?

I'm planning to, but I think I should be a little more careful about not eating them too often, not trying to eat too much at once, and not trying to eat them too quickly.

And does fruit-flavored ice cream work?

Yes, as long as the fruit has been heat-processed at some point. Commercial fruit ice creams are all right, but I stay away from homemade versions. I do like to top vanilla ice cream with microwaved frozen fruit.

Another thing that works, and has decent fresh-fruit taste, is Odwalla juices (http://www.odwalla.com/). Their blackberry smoothie is really good, and everything they sell has been flash-pasteurized, i.e., heat-processed.

commiseration and possibly interesting information

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Well, it's good that you headed it off, anyway. I am really sorry about your plums, and the other fruits too. It's not quite fresh fruit flavor, but I've had good luck with no-added-sugar jams from natural food stores.

I don't know if you're aware of this, but up until you said blueberries, all the fruits were in the family Rosaceae. (That is where most of the fruits we eat as fruit come from, so maybe it's not too surprising.) If you're having problems by plant family, and my pollen allergies seem to go along those lines, you will want to watch out for other members of the heather family now too. Cranberries and huckleberries are both in genus Vaccinium along with blueberries, and you may have other local berries from the Ericaceae. (We have salal, for instance, but your side of the continent doesn't have that one.)

The most frustrating thing about allergies is the way they get worse. It's not like I want to smoke cigarettes, but it was awfully nice when I could go to shows that happened to be in bars.

[tavella.livejournal.com]

Ick. I have a very mild form of the same thing, but it's limited itself so far to walnuts and peaches, and I think I was mildly allergic to them even as a child.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I'm seriously thinking about getting an industrial-grade face mask so I can see bands without wheezing for the following three days. I would wear it, too, if I was in a large enough group of people that no one could give me hassle.

Anyway, I sympathise. Currently having all sorts of weird allergic reactions myself, and not actually sure what caused today's one, which is scary. I'm used to knowing what my allergies are and how much contact I can have with the respective allergens before I get ill - changes in that, and particularly sudden changes, are frightening.

[txanne.livejournal.com]

I'm sad that you're still allergic, but very very grateful to you for posting your experience. See, last night I took two Aleve and wound up with itchy palms and soles. It took me a while to figure out that itchiness = misfiring nerves = tingling = oh crap, go find the Benadryl. Without this thread, I'd never have known that because it was my first serious allergic reaction.