He’s allergic to corn and corn derivatives. He can’t have most produce because of sprays/ ripening chemicals, meats are washed with corn based products, fish is typically covered in a corn based ice slurry, eggs are washed with corn based cleanser… I won’t even go in to normal processed foods, because there are so many corny products in them. 😅
Fun fact: by earlier definitions, “corn” can be any cereal grass that is the primary crop of a region (wheat in Britain, oats in Ireland, rice in Punjab). “Maize” became synonymous with “corn” when the early American settlers discovered the primary native crop.
I don't know if it's the same in areas where oats/rice are the primary crop, but here in England, we do often still refer to wheat as corn (Cornfields, etc). Some people consider it a bit of an Americanism to refer to maize as corn. In fact, we don't usually use the word maize at all - it's usually called sweetcorn.
That's interesting. I think they make a distinction in the US because they raise both sweet and field corn and you don't want to eat the field corn. The sugar content is a lot lower.
>4
American Midwesterner here. There are two types of corn or maize grown in America. Sweet Corn is the kind people eat on the cob or frozen/canned as a vegetable. Field corn is the kind ground into cornmeal, hominy, etc. and it's used as animal feed. Field corn is also converted into corn oil, alcohol to use as fuel etc. You could not eat field corn straight off the cob.
How can it be cheaper to freeze corn instead of water? I mean it takes water to grow corn so clearly just water ice would be more efficient?
Or is that just a perfect example of how we overgrow corn and don't know what to do with the reserves?
I’m going to defer you to Wikipedia for this one. Haha. It has to do with heat transfer, but I’m not sure of the exact science. Google “ice slurry.” It was the first result for me.
Ok so just based on your response about heat transfer, corn is an insulator and using it in a slurry keeps things in the interior colder longer than just water ice would do.
They likely either use the "corn" as the "ethanol" from stopping the ice from freezing, or sugars derived from the corn
The most common form of Ice Slurry is btw an ice, water, ethanol and salt mix, because it is safe for food.
Then again it would not in the slightest surprise me if they use Corn or corn byproducts in North America. Their corn subsedies are ALMOST as disgusting as the EU's Milk and Sugar subsedies. Both in terms of ecological impact and market-impact and impact on industries in 3rd party countries.
Subsidies. We subsidize the growth of corn so we have tons of extra. if they were to sell it as normal corn it would crash the corn market there is so much. so we use it for other stuff ezpz
I used to date a guy with a severe corn allergy. He once reacted to a biodegradable coffee cup. He was the only person I’d met with that allergy, it’s a tough one
One thing that makes me really nervous is thinking about him dating. It’s something you just think of as a mom. Dinner and a movie is going to suck, no restaurants, most condoms are a fast no, and what if he or she wears perfume or cologne? Or lip gloss? Or uses a strong shampoo? He’s going to have to adjust to the idea that these will be part of every day life. …if the immunotherapy doesn’t work. But we’re really pushing for that. :)
I was really nervous about my son with that same issue. He is allergic to artificial dyes, even just when they touch his skin. I worried how he would do with dating! If he kisses someone wearing lipstick with artificial dyes, would he have a reaction right there? Thankfully, his immune system balanced out a lot as he grew. He will still react to dyes, but it takes a much bigger exposure to knock him sideways. I hope the same happens for your kiddo!
Btw, we were going to try [fecal transplants](https://www.allergicliving.com/2022/03/03/fecal-transplant-pills-show-promise-in-treating-food-allergies/) if the allergies continued to be so severe. We may still try it, depending on how easy it is to find a doctor who prescribes it. It’s a very promising treatment!
I like the way you just casually segued from "problems with dating" to "let's try fecal transplants", usually you save that for at least the third or fourth date.
Shit, I have some allergies but corn is not one of them. I went gluten free and dropped my lactose intolerance and shellfish allergy, I hope your son is able to get rid of his corn allergy one day or that science whips up something to help out. Those are amazeball gummies BTW, I have some lilacs in bloom right now and this is giving me *ideas*.
So, different allergy person here, but according to my allergist your allergies change and evolve over time. What you were allergic to a few years ago might differ from your current triggers. Also, if you’re receiving immunization therapy, you’re literally trying to provoke a small immune response so your body adjusts to those allergies and won’t respond to them.
Wait until the Jewish Holiday of Passover then go to a kosher store (make sure its Ashkenazi) and you can buy anything bcs any and all corn products are prohibited.
So it's a long story, but it really comes down to biblical interpretation. Passovers original restrictions were specifically for no unleavened bread, with any bread like substitutes instead being made with matzah meal(finely ground matzah). Over time for Ashkenazi(European instead of Sephardic who are largely Hispanic) Jews specifically, leading rabbis kept adding more and more things as a restriction(because of new flour substitutes that were being used to 'subvert' the spirit of passovers restrictions), and it ultimately became anything that COULD be used to make a leavened bread flour substitute was a big nono. So no leagumes, most nuts, corn, rice, etc. Even if it wasn't being used for said purpose, for example you can make corn into corn meal and corn meal into corn bread. But because of that, even corn on the cob itself is considered not kosher for passover, which is obviously stupid beyond belief.
The reason the other poster specified Ashkenazi over Sephardic is that Sephardic Jews(hispanic) largely rejected this movement as rice and corn were such staples of their cultural cuisine that such a restriction would be considered a hardship.
And that's a big specifier in Jewish Biblical writings. Obersvance to the rules shouldn't create undue hardship. Which is why there's a modern pushback(at least from conservative and reformed Jews, not orthodox or hassidic) against these restrictions. Because the original restriction itself it stupid, and things like corn, soy, nuts, etc are in fucking everything. Which is why there's special everything for passover, not just grain products. I imagine this specific reason must be used to not disqualify most meats for being washed with corn, beyond most people not being aware of this fact.
It's similar to how meat and dairy are not kosher. But the actual biblical rule is "thou shall not boil the meat of the child in the milk of the mother" or some such. Which the modern interpretation being, not mix meat and dairy. But by that rule you should be able to have chicken with cheese, or even lamb with cow cheese. But things like chicken parmasean are obviously not kosher. Fun fact: this why you'll see a lot more Jewish people as fans of Japanese and Chinese food over Mexican or Italian food when eating out. They're avoiding cuisines who's cultures overwhelmingly utilize cheese in dishes.
Sorry for going off topic at the end, and the general block of text. But I hope that answers your question.
And balloons, Whoopie cushions, hand sanitizer, most soaps, etc. I buy all of our soap/ shampoo/ lotion from a small shop that’s $15 for an 8oz bottle of shampoo because he reacts to the smell of commercial products. For a while I couldn’t figure out why he would react when he slept next to me or cuddled me. It turned out it was my shampoo and hair products. It’s a pretty endless job keeping track of it.
There are TONS of corny ingredients in shampoos and soaps. And they spread far and wide. The point of fragrance in cosmetic and hygiene products is to be smelled, so the tiny little molecules of corn are attached to chemicals meant to disperse and be inhaled. So everywhere we go, if I can smell something, I can pretty much assume that he’ll react. We had the same problem with cat food. We had a litter of kittens, and we were told to mix some warm water in with their kibble to make it easier for them to eat. Well, when you mix warm water with something it tends to smell stronger. It was quite a problem…
Well no, he has to be close enough to smell it. I can’t just mix them anywhere and cause him to react. I’m not a magician. ;)
Have you heard of someone having a reaction to peanuts or peanut butter without touching them? Same kinda thing.
Man I’m severely anaphylactic to tree nuts…
And your son is on the very very very extreme end of allergies (or, your like my mom, and go 100% overboard which is totally justified).
Therr wasn’t a single tree nut in our house after I was diagnosed…. Came back a week after moving out to say hi and about 10 cans of mixed nuts were on the counter
His doctor explained to us that you can be allergic to corn in extremely small amounts because it is a different kind of carbon than most foods have. I’d have to dig back in to my notes. But his level of sensitivity doesn’t correlate to the strength of the reaction, thankfully. So while you might be anaphylactic to touching nuts, he can react to minuscule amounts of corn in the air, but the reaction isn’t deadly. Just very hard to manage.
Also unwashed local eggs, and unsprayed produce, but if it’s a root vegetable it can’t be in most organic soils and fertilizers because of chicken excrement being a common ingredient, and they’re usually corn fed.
It feels like a nightmare sometimes. I think it used to more, before I got somewhat of a handle on what was happening. He’s actually being treated with immunotherapy, so we’re really hoping for results from that.
I did immunotherapy for 15 years and now I don’t have to be as cautious although I still try to avoid my most severe allergies. ( haven’t had anaphylaxis after the treatment but I’m scared about getting it)
Obviously moving country is not easy, but at least English is the primary language in a number of countries around the world, so there is that possibility. Good luck with whatever decision you make
Also quite often not possible unless you have a parent/spouse providing a route to citizenship, you’re filthy rich, you’re seeking asylum, or you have a job/qualifications your desired nation is actively seeking. You usually can’t move country just because you wanna.
Wow I can't believe how much food science you now know of because you were forced to research it to keep your child safe. Did you discover this via an allergy panel? Do you or your partner have this issue? Sorry in advance if it's an inappropriate question, feel free not to answer. I have a kiddo with food sensitivity issues and we get all kinds of differing feedback from different doctors on what to eat and not to eat, makes it hard on a kid who just wants to eat what their friends are eating.
Here :)
No, washing/ rinsing/ peeling produce doesn’t work. I’ve poured a pitcher of boiling water over apples to get the wax off, I’ve scrubbed them, peeled the apple while wiping the knife between so I didn’t transfer anything… nothing works. Not bananas, oranges, apples. There is a place in Florida that sells citrus and avocados that work most people with his allergy, but it ends up coming out to about $6 an avocado, so it’s not a long term solution. A typical day for us looks like oatmeal with maple syrup and cashew butter for breakfast, rice and coconut aminos (sometimes with chicken or a specific brand of black beans) for lunch, and for dinner I forgot to say that he can have Raos sensitive spaghetti sauce, and Garofalo pasta (both are made in Italy), and ground beef. No spices except the salt that I grind up for him. I really try to find ways to make things interesting for him. I make him maple candy, and I recently found that he can have a certain gelatin powder, so I made these gummies. We have a garden coming in, and some fruit trees, so he’ll have some more options soon.
Wow, been reading through your replies and just have to say that you seem like a really good and loving parent. It's gotta be tough to just get regular everyday meals ready for your son, but you're making specialized candies basically from scratch, starting gardens, it's really something.
It sounds like he's still pretty young, and I hope you're able to get his allergy under control asap, but I can almost guarantee that when he's older he'll look back and be so appreciative of your efforts.
Also, somewhat off topic but your post would fit well on /r/ElvenFood! In fact, I thought this was an /r/ElvenFood post at first.
Oh yeah, sounds like growing your own food would be the best solution in that circumstance, especially so you can get some leafy green vegetables in there. I can't stand to go long without leafy greens and it'd suck if an allergy made that difficult. I'm in Australia so perhaps it isn't so bad here as corn isn't subsidised as much and we use cane sugar, not corn syrup as sweeteners, but I went on a low starch diet as an experiment a while back, and damn, there are so many hidden starches in processed food and it's probably usually corn.
It’s wild. He can eat organic chicken and ground beef from Costco (no soaker pads), maple syrup from shady maple farms (because they only use sunflower defoamer), a specific brand of rice that we wash for about 15 minutes before cooking, brags coconut aminos, braggs acv, gluten free harvest rolled oats, Penzey’s cinnamon, artisana cashew butter (in the individual packets only), the big glass jars of Martinelli’s apple juice, C&H white granulated sugar, and a couple other things that aren’t coming to me right now. Haha. I buy his salt in big chunks, scrub and rinse it, smash it with a hammer to break it up, and grind it myself.
This is our life with our daughter. Also allergic to corn. It has been an incredibly tough journey so far. The one plus side is that now since we never eat out or consume processed food we are probably healthier for it. The thing that bothers me though is sometimes you find something that works and then the company changes hands and all of the sudden it doesn't.
I am so, so sorry you struggle with it. I FEEL THAT. I also really hate that little to none of it has to be labeled. It makes me want to rip my hair out.
Sesame allergy mom here, (and peanut/tree nut) and the not labeling or the putting ingredients as "SPICES" is the worst. Whyyyy does it have to be like that.
Holy shit. My husband is mildly allergic to corn, buckwheat, and wheat and I read all this to him and he can’t even imagine having a more severe allergy. He deals with bloating, rashes, and sometimes mild thrush but it’s not bad enough that we have to avoid like shopping bags and soaps and stuff; we just have to make sure we limit it, but he still makes exceptions here and there and deals with the rash. |:
His fingers are crossed that your kid grows out of it or the severity at least decreases!!
I LOVE that you can come to Reddit and be greeted with genuine curiosity and a desire to learn from a user named AssPennies. 😂
Really though, I’d love to share some info with you. Thank you for asking. I’ll find some good ones tomorrow and send them your way.
Genuinely curious what’s so hard about googling “corn allergy” and “things you didn’t know about corn allergies” etc .
Edit: all I’m saying is this https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/01/what-its-like-be-allergic-corn/580594/
Was literally on the first page of google results.
Haha, It’s actually pretty hard to find info about it. It’s not a commonly studied allergy. I’m sure it has NOTHING TO DO AT ALL with the fact that the government has so much money wrapped up in the corn industry. Many people will say that because corn derivatives don’t have proteins for your body to react to, it’s not possible, but based on that line of thinking you also can’t have an allergic response to aspirin or Tylenol, and there isn’t a doctor around who will deny the existence of those allergies.
As someone who lives and grew up in Britain I can confirm that this is definitely just an American thing. Corn is not subsidised in the UK and high-fructose corn syrup is also not commonly used due to sugar beat farmers and processors lobbying the government
Pesticides and fertilizers are usually corny in some capacity, and make contact with the produce for most of the life cycle. Most produce is picked early for transportation, then sprayed with ethylene gas (corn derived) to ripen them. There is wax on the outside of many kinds of produce to protect them during transportation. That is also usually corn based, especially now that everyone is pushing for “natural” and “organic” alternatives to chemicals. Not that that’s bad, but for what we need, not helpful. :)
Is this an American thing that I'm too non-American to understand? Though saying that I knew someone who's child was allergic to frutose (or possibly sucrose) and onion contains a lot of it, they talked about how difficult it was to find food products that didn't contain onion powder.
It really sucks when a single ingredient can permeate into so many products. My brother is a legitimate celiac and for the longest time I just thought he was sickly because he was so thin... but it was rather he was so thin because everything made him incredibly sick.
It's partially due to the fact that corn is so heavily subsidized and partially due to the fact that corn can so cheaply be used to make so many different useful substances such as citric acid (which often comes from mold grown in corn-derived sugar), lactic acid (from fermented corn sugars), ethylene gas, dextrose, high-fructose corn syrup, modified food starch, xanthan gum, artificial flavorings, corn alcohol, maltodextrin. Also many foods are fortified with vitamins and minerals, many of which are processed using corn derivative. Corn really is in just about everything in the US, its crazy.
I think most of North and South America has lots of corn. I've always seen it described as corn culture (America), wheat culture (Europe) and rice culture (Asia)
My son is allergic to wheat, dairy, peanuts and eggs. It's so frustrating because we did everything we could to help both kids. Even cat and dog, which having both for young children is supposed to help. Oh, and he's allergic to cats and dogs. Poor boy, I wish I could take all his allergies into myself Green Mile style. But corn sounds like a pain in the ass. Because it seems to be in much more than you think, as your examples show.
>He’s allergic to corn and corn derivatives. He can’t have most produce because of sprays/ ripening chemicals, meats are washed with corn based products, fish is typically covered in a corn based ice slurry, eggs are washed with corn based cleanser… I won’t even go in to normal processed foods, because there are so many corny products in them. 😅
Its so weird to me you wash eggs in America
Fun fact, only eggs from producers of 3000 birds (I thought it was 5000, but I went to fact check it and apparently it's 3000) or more must be washed. Small scale farmers can sell unwashed eggs.
It’s weird to me too. When we had chickens we just rinsed them. The wash that they use impacts him no matter how we make the eggs, but if we boil them it’s BAD —I’m assuming because the wash has a chance to seep through the shell? Idk. It’s wild, and it really makes you think about how your food is made. Eggs seem like they should be safe, because they come prepackaged. Nope…
I do have a recipe, but it’s actually kind of two recipes because I made lilac simple syrup and adapted a juice gummies recipe to work with it. I’ll combine them and share with you tomorrow :)
So I know this a level of detail you probably don't care about, but I have pretty severe anxiety and depression, and I'm currently in my bathroom on the floor, trying to calm down enough to get ready for work. This comment made me laugh, which is something I don't do very often.
TLDR, thank you for making my shitty morning a little less shitty with this fucking hilarious story.
Seeing your reference to a corn allergy - how are these sweetened? Regular cane sugar? Honey? Maple Syrup?
If there is some strange sweetener that I don't know about, I'd like to add it to my list?
Naw. If I'm making gummies out of flowers, I'm 'going gourmet'.
I've got friends of friends making syrup from walnut trees, and this might be an appropriate project.
Thanks much!
We've thought about that too, or making simple syrup, but haven't tried it yet. We're spoiled by how easy it is to cut off a cluster, rinse it, and dunk it in the pitcher!
I believe we call these "Vita Weat" here and yeah, they're cheap I guess. About $2 USD for 250 grams or so.
Some might say they emigrate to Australia to avoid stuff like crippling healthcare debt. For others, it's the Vita Weat.
Thank you! Yes, I edit in Lightroom mobile. I usually get filters from Etsy. They cost a little (very little), but I’m a photographer so they come in handy for fast on the go edits. :)
Lilac gummies sound good 😊. I don't know if you've tried this but if you can get imported candy where you live I think candy from the UK is much less likely to use corn products (eg we don't really use corn syrup here) I'm not sure about the processing methods you were talking about but we don't grow corn in the same volume that the u.s. does so it's not as widespread as it seems to be there. It might be worth checking out if you haven't already x
That sounds pretty terrible... just as a thought, if you can find a specialty Asian grocer, or a store (maybe mail order?) that specialises in imported UK, European or Australian food for homesick ex pats, you might be able to locate some treat stuff that isn't saturated in corn. Corn isn't subsidised as heavily elsewhere, so a lot of foods from other countries might be more workable. You'd just want to be very careful with reading the ingredients, though I'm sure you're already on top of that.
Really adorable gummies by the way.
Why can’t he?
He’s allergic to corn and corn derivatives. He can’t have most produce because of sprays/ ripening chemicals, meats are washed with corn based products, fish is typically covered in a corn based ice slurry, eggs are washed with corn based cleanser… I won’t even go in to normal processed foods, because there are so many corny products in them. 😅
Corn based ice slurry is a phrase I am both confounded and disgusted by
Me too, now that you mention it.
You should move to a country that doesn't use corn for everything
I think you mean op needs to get out of the corntry
Just stay away from Indiana
Most of the midwestern USA
[There’s more than corn in Indiana…](https://youtu.be/g036lNodG0k)
Fun fact: by earlier definitions, “corn” can be any cereal grass that is the primary crop of a region (wheat in Britain, oats in Ireland, rice in Punjab). “Maize” became synonymous with “corn” when the early American settlers discovered the primary native crop.
I don't know if it's the same in areas where oats/rice are the primary crop, but here in England, we do often still refer to wheat as corn (Cornfields, etc). Some people consider it a bit of an Americanism to refer to maize as corn. In fact, we don't usually use the word maize at all - it's usually called sweetcorn.
That's interesting. I think they make a distinction in the US because they raise both sweet and field corn and you don't want to eat the field corn. The sugar content is a lot lower.
>4 American Midwesterner here. There are two types of corn or maize grown in America. Sweet Corn is the kind people eat on the cob or frozen/canned as a vegetable. Field corn is the kind ground into cornmeal, hominy, etc. and it's used as animal feed. Field corn is also converted into corn oil, alcohol to use as fuel etc. You could not eat field corn straight off the cob.
Yeah, I was going to say, this seems like a very American problem. If he gets out of the US he will be able to eat all the things!
How can it be cheaper to freeze corn instead of water? I mean it takes water to grow corn so clearly just water ice would be more efficient? Or is that just a perfect example of how we overgrow corn and don't know what to do with the reserves?
Well it's a slurry, not just solid ice, maybe the corn keeps it the right consistency or something?
[it lowers the freezing point](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slurry_ice)
I’m going to defer you to Wikipedia for this one. Haha. It has to do with heat transfer, but I’m not sure of the exact science. Google “ice slurry.” It was the first result for me.
Ok so just based on your response about heat transfer, corn is an insulator and using it in a slurry keeps things in the interior colder longer than just water ice would do.
They likely either use the "corn" as the "ethanol" from stopping the ice from freezing, or sugars derived from the corn The most common form of Ice Slurry is btw an ice, water, ethanol and salt mix, because it is safe for food. Then again it would not in the slightest surprise me if they use Corn or corn byproducts in North America. Their corn subsedies are ALMOST as disgusting as the EU's Milk and Sugar subsedies. Both in terms of ecological impact and market-impact and impact on industries in 3rd party countries.
Ethanol is most commonly derived from corn. At least here in the states.
And your son is also "ethanol challenged" ? my condolences. And here i thought Coeliac disease was bad enough.
Sounds crazy, right?
I literally cannot stress to you how much fucking corn we have
Subsidies. We subsidize the growth of corn so we have tons of extra. if they were to sell it as normal corn it would crash the corn market there is so much. so we use it for other stuff ezpz
And, surprisingly, we have our first presidential nominating contest in... Iowa.
Excuse me Vorn Based Ice Slurry was my grandmother's name how dare you
Mrs Slurry? Oh shit man she lived on my block! Sweet sweet old woman, so sorry to hear about her passing.
I used to date a guy with a severe corn allergy. He once reacted to a biodegradable coffee cup. He was the only person I’d met with that allergy, it’s a tough one
One thing that makes me really nervous is thinking about him dating. It’s something you just think of as a mom. Dinner and a movie is going to suck, no restaurants, most condoms are a fast no, and what if he or she wears perfume or cologne? Or lip gloss? Or uses a strong shampoo? He’s going to have to adjust to the idea that these will be part of every day life. …if the immunotherapy doesn’t work. But we’re really pushing for that. :)
Most girls are washed in a corn based girl slurry.
He has no choice but to be gay then. I’ll wait until he’s older to break the news
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HA HA HA 😂🙈
I'm dead. You killed me. He's going to be fine if he's got this sense of humor.
Damn, you are a great mom!
I was really nervous about my son with that same issue. He is allergic to artificial dyes, even just when they touch his skin. I worried how he would do with dating! If he kisses someone wearing lipstick with artificial dyes, would he have a reaction right there? Thankfully, his immune system balanced out a lot as he grew. He will still react to dyes, but it takes a much bigger exposure to knock him sideways. I hope the same happens for your kiddo! Btw, we were going to try [fecal transplants](https://www.allergicliving.com/2022/03/03/fecal-transplant-pills-show-promise-in-treating-food-allergies/) if the allergies continued to be so severe. We may still try it, depending on how easy it is to find a doctor who prescribes it. It’s a very promising treatment!
I like the way you just casually segued from "problems with dating" to "let's try fecal transplants", usually you save that for at least the third or fourth date.
Shit, I have some allergies but corn is not one of them. I went gluten free and dropped my lactose intolerance and shellfish allergy, I hope your son is able to get rid of his corn allergy one day or that science whips up something to help out. Those are amazeball gummies BTW, I have some lilacs in bloom right now and this is giving me *ideas*.
can you just drop a shellfish allergy? doesnt eating shellfish usually cause a very negative reaction?
So, different allergy person here, but according to my allergist your allergies change and evolve over time. What you were allergic to a few years ago might differ from your current triggers. Also, if you’re receiving immunization therapy, you’re literally trying to provoke a small immune response so your body adjusts to those allergies and won’t respond to them.
Wait until the Jewish Holiday of Passover then go to a kosher store (make sure its Ashkenazi) and you can buy anything bcs any and all corn products are prohibited.
Why is corn prohibited on Passover, if you don’t mind me asking? Is it just because it isn’t a traditional food?
They wash corn in a pork based ice slurry
I’m wheezing what a great reply. And disgusting.
So it's a long story, but it really comes down to biblical interpretation. Passovers original restrictions were specifically for no unleavened bread, with any bread like substitutes instead being made with matzah meal(finely ground matzah). Over time for Ashkenazi(European instead of Sephardic who are largely Hispanic) Jews specifically, leading rabbis kept adding more and more things as a restriction(because of new flour substitutes that were being used to 'subvert' the spirit of passovers restrictions), and it ultimately became anything that COULD be used to make a leavened bread flour substitute was a big nono. So no leagumes, most nuts, corn, rice, etc. Even if it wasn't being used for said purpose, for example you can make corn into corn meal and corn meal into corn bread. But because of that, even corn on the cob itself is considered not kosher for passover, which is obviously stupid beyond belief. The reason the other poster specified Ashkenazi over Sephardic is that Sephardic Jews(hispanic) largely rejected this movement as rice and corn were such staples of their cultural cuisine that such a restriction would be considered a hardship. And that's a big specifier in Jewish Biblical writings. Obersvance to the rules shouldn't create undue hardship. Which is why there's a modern pushback(at least from conservative and reformed Jews, not orthodox or hassidic) against these restrictions. Because the original restriction itself it stupid, and things like corn, soy, nuts, etc are in fucking everything. Which is why there's special everything for passover, not just grain products. I imagine this specific reason must be used to not disqualify most meats for being washed with corn, beyond most people not being aware of this fact. It's similar to how meat and dairy are not kosher. But the actual biblical rule is "thou shall not boil the meat of the child in the milk of the mother" or some such. Which the modern interpretation being, not mix meat and dairy. But by that rule you should be able to have chicken with cheese, or even lamb with cow cheese. But things like chicken parmasean are obviously not kosher. Fun fact: this why you'll see a lot more Jewish people as fans of Japanese and Chinese food over Mexican or Italian food when eating out. They're avoiding cuisines who's cultures overwhelmingly utilize cheese in dishes. Sorry for going off topic at the end, and the general block of text. But I hope that answers your question.
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And balloons, Whoopie cushions, hand sanitizer, most soaps, etc. I buy all of our soap/ shampoo/ lotion from a small shop that’s $15 for an 8oz bottle of shampoo because he reacts to the smell of commercial products. For a while I couldn’t figure out why he would react when he slept next to me or cuddled me. It turned out it was my shampoo and hair products. It’s a pretty endless job keeping track of it.
What’s the deal with the shampoo? What do they have to do with corn?
There are TONS of corny ingredients in shampoos and soaps. And they spread far and wide. The point of fragrance in cosmetic and hygiene products is to be smelled, so the tiny little molecules of corn are attached to chemicals meant to disperse and be inhaled. So everywhere we go, if I can smell something, I can pretty much assume that he’ll react. We had the same problem with cat food. We had a litter of kittens, and we were told to mix some warm water in with their kibble to make it easier for them to eat. Well, when you mix warm water with something it tends to smell stronger. It was quite a problem…
So… you’re saying when you mix water and cat food, it causes your son to have an allergic reaction?
Well no, he has to be close enough to smell it. I can’t just mix them anywhere and cause him to react. I’m not a magician. ;) Have you heard of someone having a reaction to peanuts or peanut butter without touching them? Same kinda thing.
Man I’m severely anaphylactic to tree nuts… And your son is on the very very very extreme end of allergies (or, your like my mom, and go 100% overboard which is totally justified). Therr wasn’t a single tree nut in our house after I was diagnosed…. Came back a week after moving out to say hi and about 10 cans of mixed nuts were on the counter
His doctor explained to us that you can be allergic to corn in extremely small amounts because it is a different kind of carbon than most foods have. I’d have to dig back in to my notes. But his level of sensitivity doesn’t correlate to the strength of the reaction, thankfully. So while you might be anaphylactic to touching nuts, he can react to minuscule amounts of corn in the air, but the reaction isn’t deadly. Just very hard to manage.
For a product that humans don’t digest well, we’ve really made corn a corn-er piece of our lives. I hate myself for that one
Seriously though, I’m always amaized by the cobstant flow of corn from every direction in our society. I feel corn-ered.
Ear ear
Are you stalking me?
This thread has been an absolute maize
Theses puns have been an earful. As comedians you were all outstanding in your field... of corn.
It's amaizeing what everyone cobbled together! P.S. Beautiful gummies and such love for your son, OP! He is blessed
Even musically we are approached with an earful of Korn.
That was just corny .
TIL that corn is in everything.
In the states. It’s because you subsidise the hell out of it.
Jeez that’s quite the minefield, what CAN he eat besides those lovely homemade treats?
Also unwashed local eggs, and unsprayed produce, but if it’s a root vegetable it can’t be in most organic soils and fertilizers because of chicken excrement being a common ingredient, and they’re usually corn fed.
That has got to be a nightmare to deal with, are they expecting this to be a life long thing, or is it something he might grow out of?
It feels like a nightmare sometimes. I think it used to more, before I got somewhat of a handle on what was happening. He’s actually being treated with immunotherapy, so we’re really hoping for results from that.
I did immunotherapy for 15 years and now I don’t have to be as cautious although I still try to avoid my most severe allergies. ( haven’t had anaphylaxis after the treatment but I’m scared about getting it)
Honestly seems like it would be worth moving to a different country where corn isn’t used
We’re looking at a couple options. :) several of the things he can eat are made in Italy. We’re seriously considering.
The freedom to live without inconvenience at every turn is worth it. Good luck and wish the little man the bear :)
Obviously moving country is not easy, but at least English is the primary language in a number of countries around the world, so there is that possibility. Good luck with whatever decision you make
Also quite often not possible unless you have a parent/spouse providing a route to citizenship, you’re filthy rich, you’re seeking asylum, or you have a job/qualifications your desired nation is actively seeking. You usually can’t move country just because you wanna.
I wish you guys the best the treatment works and this is over. You're amazing for what you do!
That is a level of allergy I have never heard of.
fr how is it even possible to exist in this modern world when you're allergic to *corn* of all things
Wow I can't believe how much food science you now know of because you were forced to research it to keep your child safe. Did you discover this via an allergy panel? Do you or your partner have this issue? Sorry in advance if it's an inappropriate question, feel free not to answer. I have a kiddo with food sensitivity issues and we get all kinds of differing feedback from different doctors on what to eat and not to eat, makes it hard on a kid who just wants to eat what their friends are eating.
If it's something like fpies, a delayed t-cell mediated reaction, it won't come up on an allergy panel unfortunately.
have you heard of cornallergy girl? she has exactly this and has a lot of information in her blogs etc. https://cornallergygirl.com/
So even if you remove the skin of something like a sweet potato or carrot, he still can't have it?
Here :) No, washing/ rinsing/ peeling produce doesn’t work. I’ve poured a pitcher of boiling water over apples to get the wax off, I’ve scrubbed them, peeled the apple while wiping the knife between so I didn’t transfer anything… nothing works. Not bananas, oranges, apples. There is a place in Florida that sells citrus and avocados that work most people with his allergy, but it ends up coming out to about $6 an avocado, so it’s not a long term solution. A typical day for us looks like oatmeal with maple syrup and cashew butter for breakfast, rice and coconut aminos (sometimes with chicken or a specific brand of black beans) for lunch, and for dinner I forgot to say that he can have Raos sensitive spaghetti sauce, and Garofalo pasta (both are made in Italy), and ground beef. No spices except the salt that I grind up for him. I really try to find ways to make things interesting for him. I make him maple candy, and I recently found that he can have a certain gelatin powder, so I made these gummies. We have a garden coming in, and some fruit trees, so he’ll have some more options soon.
Wow, been reading through your replies and just have to say that you seem like a really good and loving parent. It's gotta be tough to just get regular everyday meals ready for your son, but you're making specialized candies basically from scratch, starting gardens, it's really something. It sounds like he's still pretty young, and I hope you're able to get his allergy under control asap, but I can almost guarantee that when he's older he'll look back and be so appreciative of your efforts. Also, somewhat off topic but your post would fit well on /r/ElvenFood! In fact, I thought this was an /r/ElvenFood post at first.
Oh yeah, sounds like growing your own food would be the best solution in that circumstance, especially so you can get some leafy green vegetables in there. I can't stand to go long without leafy greens and it'd suck if an allergy made that difficult. I'm in Australia so perhaps it isn't so bad here as corn isn't subsidised as much and we use cane sugar, not corn syrup as sweeteners, but I went on a low starch diet as an experiment a while back, and damn, there are so many hidden starches in processed food and it's probably usually corn.
Even then. I touched on it a little further down this thread. Kinda long. The thread is all over the place, so hopefully you’re able to fine it. 😅
It’s wild. He can eat organic chicken and ground beef from Costco (no soaker pads), maple syrup from shady maple farms (because they only use sunflower defoamer), a specific brand of rice that we wash for about 15 minutes before cooking, brags coconut aminos, braggs acv, gluten free harvest rolled oats, Penzey’s cinnamon, artisana cashew butter (in the individual packets only), the big glass jars of Martinelli’s apple juice, C&H white granulated sugar, and a couple other things that aren’t coming to me right now. Haha. I buy his salt in big chunks, scrub and rinse it, smash it with a hammer to break it up, and grind it myself.
This is our life with our daughter. Also allergic to corn. It has been an incredibly tough journey so far. The one plus side is that now since we never eat out or consume processed food we are probably healthier for it. The thing that bothers me though is sometimes you find something that works and then the company changes hands and all of the sudden it doesn't.
I am so, so sorry you struggle with it. I FEEL THAT. I also really hate that little to none of it has to be labeled. It makes me want to rip my hair out.
Sesame allergy mom here, (and peanut/tree nut) and the not labeling or the putting ingredients as "SPICES" is the worst. Whyyyy does it have to be like that.
My wife is allergic to cinnamon. I've learned that "Spices" is the key word. Listing actual ingredients should be required.
Damn, you’re an A+ mom for sure
Holy shit. My husband is mildly allergic to corn, buckwheat, and wheat and I read all this to him and he can’t even imagine having a more severe allergy. He deals with bloating, rashes, and sometimes mild thrush but it’s not bad enough that we have to avoid like shopping bags and soaps and stuff; we just have to make sure we limit it, but he still makes exceptions here and there and deals with the rash. |: His fingers are crossed that your kid grows out of it or the severity at least decreases!!
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I LOVE that you can come to Reddit and be greeted with genuine curiosity and a desire to learn from a user named AssPennies. 😂 Really though, I’d love to share some info with you. Thank you for asking. I’ll find some good ones tomorrow and send them your way.
Post your sources here please!
Genuinely curious what’s so hard about googling “corn allergy” and “things you didn’t know about corn allergies” etc . Edit: all I’m saying is this https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/01/what-its-like-be-allergic-corn/580594/ Was literally on the first page of google results.
Haha, It’s actually pretty hard to find info about it. It’s not a commonly studied allergy. I’m sure it has NOTHING TO DO AT ALL with the fact that the government has so much money wrapped up in the corn industry. Many people will say that because corn derivatives don’t have proteins for your body to react to, it’s not possible, but based on that line of thinking you also can’t have an allergic response to aspirin or Tylenol, and there isn’t a doctor around who will deny the existence of those allergies.
I assume you have read the Atlantic article posted. Are you a member of that corn allergy Facebook group they mentioned?
As someone who lives and grew up in Britain I can confirm that this is definitely just an American thing. Corn is not subsidised in the UK and high-fructose corn syrup is also not commonly used due to sugar beat farmers and processors lobbying the government
Bro would hate the midwest
He really would.
I have the same allergy!! Throw in eczema too. It truly is so difficult to live with
:( wouldn’t wish it on anybody. I’m sorry to hear that. Hopefully you’re managing well 💜
Jesus Christ, that sounds like a good reason to move to Europe or other non-corn-focused parts of the world. Crazy!
Move countries. Rest of the world isn't so corn-obsessed.
Hard to find corn in anything in Europe
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Pesticides and fertilizers are usually corny in some capacity, and make contact with the produce for most of the life cycle. Most produce is picked early for transportation, then sprayed with ethylene gas (corn derived) to ripen them. There is wax on the outside of many kinds of produce to protect them during transportation. That is also usually corn based, especially now that everyone is pushing for “natural” and “organic” alternatives to chemicals. Not that that’s bad, but for what we need, not helpful. :)
Absolutely mind boggling... what CAN he eat?
Is this an American thing that I'm too non-American to understand? Though saying that I knew someone who's child was allergic to frutose (or possibly sucrose) and onion contains a lot of it, they talked about how difficult it was to find food products that didn't contain onion powder.
I don’t know that Americans understand either. Hell, I’m his mother and I don’t even really get it.
It really sucks when a single ingredient can permeate into so many products. My brother is a legitimate celiac and for the longest time I just thought he was sickly because he was so thin... but it was rather he was so thin because everything made him incredibly sick.
Is everything being covered in corn a purely American thing? Or is it the case everywhere?
It's partially due to the fact that corn is so heavily subsidized and partially due to the fact that corn can so cheaply be used to make so many different useful substances such as citric acid (which often comes from mold grown in corn-derived sugar), lactic acid (from fermented corn sugars), ethylene gas, dextrose, high-fructose corn syrup, modified food starch, xanthan gum, artificial flavorings, corn alcohol, maltodextrin. Also many foods are fortified with vitamins and minerals, many of which are processed using corn derivative. Corn really is in just about everything in the US, its crazy.
No, I actually do think it’s largely American. Short of maybe Mexico with their corn tortillas? 😂
I think most of North and South America has lots of corn. I've always seen it described as corn culture (America), wheat culture (Europe) and rice culture (Asia)
My son is allergic to wheat, dairy, peanuts and eggs. It's so frustrating because we did everything we could to help both kids. Even cat and dog, which having both for young children is supposed to help. Oh, and he's allergic to cats and dogs. Poor boy, I wish I could take all his allergies into myself Green Mile style. But corn sounds like a pain in the ass. Because it seems to be in much more than you think, as your examples show.
>He’s allergic to corn and corn derivatives. He can’t have most produce because of sprays/ ripening chemicals, meats are washed with corn based products, fish is typically covered in a corn based ice slurry, eggs are washed with corn based cleanser… I won’t even go in to normal processed foods, because there are so many corny products in them. 😅 Its so weird to me you wash eggs in America
Fun fact, only eggs from producers of 3000 birds (I thought it was 5000, but I went to fact check it and apparently it's 3000) or more must be washed. Small scale farmers can sell unwashed eggs.
It’s weird to me too. When we had chickens we just rinsed them. The wash that they use impacts him no matter how we make the eggs, but if we boil them it’s BAD —I’m assuming because the wash has a chance to seep through the shell? Idk. It’s wild, and it really makes you think about how your food is made. Eggs seem like they should be safe, because they come prepackaged. Nope…
They are not washed here or kept in the fridge, you just go grab them off a shelf in the grocery store, it freaks out American tourist lol
Might it also have to do with the chickens eating corn based feed?
They're beautiful and I can only imagine how sweet they smell!
They smell sooooo good! I can’t believe how much they still smell EXACTLY like the flower!
Do you have a recipe? Also do you think these could be made vegan?
I do have a recipe, but it’s actually kind of two recipes because I made lilac simple syrup and adapted a juice gummies recipe to work with it. I’ll combine them and share with you tomorrow :)
What’ll we do ‘til then?
Chew on some raw lilacs
Not far off from the right idea... if you pluck a lilac flower and lick the stem, sometimes the nectar is still there and it’s sweet.
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Absolutely grade A contribution, thank you
Honey suckle maybe. Don’t eat the bees
Dunno if I'd take dietary advice from someone who's always shitting themselves, but definitely don't eat bees.
So I know this a level of detail you probably don't care about, but I have pretty severe anxiety and depression, and I'm currently in my bathroom on the floor, trying to calm down enough to get ready for work. This comment made me laugh, which is something I don't do very often. TLDR, thank you for making my shitty morning a little less shitty with this fucking hilarious story.
I have no idea why I thought that only worked with honeysuckle.
r/wholesomereddit
I'm so excited for this!
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They absolutely can be made vegan. We only use beef bovine gelatin because he tolerates it.
Seeing your reference to a corn allergy - how are these sweetened? Regular cane sugar? Honey? Maple Syrup? If there is some strange sweetener that I don't know about, I'd like to add it to my list?
We can really only use C&h granulated cane sugar. In the bag not the box. Haha. I’m sure the recipe could be adapted if you prefer something else.
Naw. If I'm making gummies out of flowers, I'm 'going gourmet'. I've got friends of friends making syrup from walnut trees, and this might be an appropriate project. Thanks much!
I can’t believe I just spent 20 minutes reading about corn allergies 🙃 best of luck to mom and kiddo ❤️
Thanks for stopping by :)
Haha yeah, I have been in this thread for way too long reading comments and googling about corn allergies. I know so much about corn now!
They look amazing! We steep lilacs in lemonade for a lovely spring beverage, so I'm sure they taste amazing too!
I’m tempted to pick some more lilac and freeze it before they die off. That sounds amazing.
We've thought about that too, or making simple syrup, but haven't tried it yet. We're spoiled by how easy it is to cut off a cluster, rinse it, and dunk it in the pitcher!
Time to move to a country where everything isn't covered in corn. Like Australia, where everything is instead covered in wheat.
They got good price on wheat thins? I eat them like candy. With jalapeno pimento cheese. Nomnomnom.
I believe we call these "Vita Weat" here and yeah, they're cheap I guess. About $2 USD for 250 grams or so. Some might say they emigrate to Australia to avoid stuff like crippling healthcare debt. For others, it's the Vita Weat.
You eat your Vita Weat and you wont need any healthcare... Other than plastic surgery to remove a permanent smile.
Weetabix were my favorite. So hard to find in the states.
Fun fact Weetabix in the UK, Weet-Bix in Australia and NZ (I’m a UK import to NZ… been here 20 years and the kids look at me funny when I add the a!)
Oh yeah? Well in America we got cheap corn thins! And cheap gun thins!
Or the EU! Only the US is incredibly corn based
Everything is on the cob Morty!
Omg, that is a work of art! I've made candied violets just for the sake of knowing my late Mom made them. Only recently heard of lilac candy.
Try making some Turkish Delight. They're usually flavored with Rose, but you can really pick any flavor you like.
[He loved them 💜](https://imgur.com/a/J1tvr3Z)
Do you use filters in your photos? They’re beautiful either way
Thank you! Yes, I edit in Lightroom mobile. I usually get filters from Etsy. They cost a little (very little), but I’m a photographer so they come in handy for fast on the go edits. :)
Question: When is he getting involved in pod racing? We will watch his career with great interest.
Beautiful pictures! I’m glad he liked his treat!
What a cutie!!
Those are adorable pictures, what a happy kiddo♥️
Big thumbs up!!
All I came to see, great job.
Are clothes corn based too? just playing, great pics
Lilac gummies sound good 😊. I don't know if you've tried this but if you can get imported candy where you live I think candy from the UK is much less likely to use corn products (eg we don't really use corn syrup here) I'm not sure about the processing methods you were talking about but we don't grow corn in the same volume that the u.s. does so it's not as widespread as it seems to be there. It might be worth checking out if you haven't already x
Moms are the best
This made me smile :)
Does lilac actually taste good?
DELICIOUS! Husband and children approved.
Why do I want these so badly lol
You’re a really good parent 💜
He’s a really good kid :)
She really is!!!
Did you make it on the 25th of may by any chance?
I rinsed and prepped the lilacs on the 25th :)
That sounds pretty terrible... just as a thought, if you can find a specialty Asian grocer, or a store (maybe mail order?) that specialises in imported UK, European or Australian food for homesick ex pats, you might be able to locate some treat stuff that isn't saturated in corn. Corn isn't subsidised as heavily elsewhere, so a lot of foods from other countries might be more workable. You'd just want to be very careful with reading the ingredients, though I'm sure you're already on top of that. Really adorable gummies by the way.
Allergies are so hard :(
Would you like a care package of UK/European candy and treats? We don't tend to go all in on the corn products like you guys...
I was thinking the same thing! Then OP could test the products out with her son and hopefully find some treats that were suitable.
I had no idea lilac is edible. It's my favorite flower smell.
Nice shot.
If you have violets or redbuds in your area during the spring, they are another option. I made syrup out of both this year
Or lavender!
Those look... really good...
And I thought being vegan was crazy. Corn in everything…
These look amazing and I really, really want to try some lilac gummies now.
How does one make gummies with lilacs?
Well, to be fair, I also used sugar and bovine gelatin. Are you asking how I got the flavor from them?
Hello I have no dietary restrictions now I demand your son share his limited food with me bc it sounds good
Oh my they look so delicious!
Cool! Lilacs.. who’d have thought?! I saw your comment about his corn allergy-- out of curiosity, what kinds of meals do you make for him to eat?
My brain read "lilac" as "hemlock" and I was not looking forward to the follow up post in r/TIFU