Almonds?

[EmilyAnn]

Are almonds a tree nut or a drupe? My son tested negative for almonds, but positive for other tree nuts (pecans. walnuts, and others.)

I am wondering b/c I was going to make cookies to give to a friend who just had a baby but the recipe calls for almond butter. My son will not be eating them, but I will be baking with them in my kitchen. I do have wowbutter and sunbutter I can use instead if I need to.

[twinturbo]

Botanically it's a drupe, I want to say part of the rose family. Without a history of reaction to them in combination of a recent negative test I'm inclined to say use them. Blue Diamond is a brand that has the lowest risk of being contaminated by peanuts although they process 'other' tree nuts. The FDA considers almonds nuts and certainly there is a reason for nut allergic individuals to be cautious in avoiding them because the likelihood of sensitivity isn't negligible.

[EmilyAnn]

I have OAS and react to almonds (and bananas, peaches, apricots and a few other things) so no one in my family eats almonds. I just wanted to check and see if it would be ok for me to bake with almond butter. It seems like it should be since he has never reacted to them and the skin test was negative. Thank you

[Macabre]

I would only worry about contamination of your equipment, since its hard to find almond butter that isn't contaminated with peanut and other tree nuts.

When dough climbs to the top of the beater so high it touches the mixer, you'd need to wipe that with a Clorox wipe (proven to get rid of peanut protein) for it to not be contaminated.

Our family des enjoy almonds very much.

[EmilyAnn]

I used a kitchen aid mixer. I washed everything (mixer attachment, bowls, measuring cups) with dish soap, then filled the sink with hot water and added a little bleach and I am letting it soak. I will rinse everything really well once the kids are in bed. I used clorox wipes to wipe down the mixer and counter tops. Does that sound ok?

[twinturbo]

Like a pro. 

[Macabre]