Question:
A new son in law will be visiting from England for the first time and he
has a peanut allergy. I would rather not kill him right now so would be
grateful for any help. I know the obvious, but is there anything to look
out for on the labels? What oil can I cook with instead of peanut oil? He
wants catfish and hushpuppies so I need something to cook high heat. Would
black eyed peas be in the nut allergy category? I did Google this but it
wasn't real helpful.
Answer:
Your best bet is to ask him these questions as I'm sure he doesn't want you
to kill him either. Canola oil works at fairly high heat. In N. America it
says if peanuts might be present on the label... i. e. one of the machines
used in making the product processed peanuts at one time or another and was
cleaned but there might still be a trace peanut residue.You might see if
British Label state this as well...As labeling policies vary from Country
to country as does allergies. In N America peanut Allergies are not
uncommon...In S America they are rarely an Issue...I'm not sure about in
the UK. I just googled "peanut allergy" and there are any number of allergy
organizations that would be authoritative about your questions. Willingness
to help notwithstanding, anywebsite is not a good place to get such important
advice because it is often very difficult to separate knowledge from opinion
or merely guessing. Those allergy-based medical pages often have excellent
search provisions. You could always ask your son-in-law for his input just to avoid any
problems. If you use refined peanut oil, it is not an allergy risk. Since I don't expect you to trust me about the peanut oil, you can use
Crisco solid vegetable shortening. It works well at high heat.
Pretty simple in terms of oils - use corn or pure vegetable oil. It can
tolerate temps high enough to fry catfish and hushpuppies. Blackeyed peas
are not "nuts", but then again neither are peanuts; they are legumes. Best
bet is to ask your son in law what he can and cannot eat. He's probably
sure to know. It's a totally individualized reaction. Some people cross-react with
tree and other nuts, soya and other legumes, others do not. Discuss with him his situation, and go from there.
