Almond croissants vs almonds and croissants?
June 19, 2018 1:15 PM Subscribe
What's in almond croissants that's not in the base ingredients? It seems almond croissants are a trigger for my migraines (and a terrible one at that) but I don't have any problem with the component ingredients. Is there something I'm missing that might be triggering the migraines?
For reference, I'm eating good quality, fresh croissants, so no funky preservatives. Ingredients are flour, butter, sliced almonds, powdered sugar, almond paste (ground almonds + sugar + ?eggs?) I can handle all of these ingredients separately, so perhaps it's just a sugar overload. But might there be some other ingredient (or chemical reaction?) that's involved to cause my migraine? Reaction has happened enough that it seems not to be coincidental.
For reference, I'm eating good quality, fresh croissants, so no funky preservatives. Ingredients are flour, butter, sliced almonds, powdered sugar, almond paste (ground almonds + sugar + ?eggs?) I can handle all of these ingredients separately, so perhaps it's just a sugar overload. But might there be some other ingredient (or chemical reaction?) that's involved to cause my migraine? Reaction has happened enough that it seems not to be coincidental.
Almonds are apparently a migraine trigger - I wonder if the paste makes the trigger compound absorb into your body faster or if the sugar+almond paste combo again absorbs faster than plain almonds.
posted by GuyZero at 1:21 PM on June 19, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by GuyZero at 1:21 PM on June 19, 2018 [7 favorites]
Best answer: Almond paste is also probably going to involve almond extract, which is not from regular almonds but from bitter almonds, which is a different thing than regular almonds. The extract may also be synthetic, because of problems with bitter almonds.
posted by phunniemee at 1:22 PM on June 19, 2018 [29 favorites]
posted by phunniemee at 1:22 PM on June 19, 2018 [29 favorites]
Yeah, I bet it's synthetic almond extract that's bugging you.
posted by mskyle at 1:24 PM on June 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by mskyle at 1:24 PM on June 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
"Almond paste" isn't always made from almonds. When I worked in a coffee shop selling almond croissants, the paste we used was made from roasted apricot kernels. Apricot kernels (and the seeds of apples and most stone fruit) are high in amygdalin, which metabolises to cyanide. The roasting process breaks down the amygdalin so the paste isn't poisonous, but it seems possible that you are reacting to either some left over, or maybe another compound.
To test this possibility you could chew up a couple of apple pips and see whether it triggers a migraine.
posted by howfar at 1:28 PM on June 19, 2018 [20 favorites]
To test this possibility you could chew up a couple of apple pips and see whether it triggers a migraine.
posted by howfar at 1:28 PM on June 19, 2018 [20 favorites]
I think we're all basically agreeing that the issue is likely to be some sort of "almond flavour" which is reliant on a range of potentially toxic seeds for its taste.
posted by howfar at 1:33 PM on June 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by howfar at 1:33 PM on June 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Greetings from propylene glycol allergy land. Propylene glycol is often used as a base for flavor extracts.
Similar flavor extracts are in some grenadines and Italian soda flavorings.
It's a more common allergy than people know. The main study of it I found was in Europe, but it was a study of the frequency of the allergy and it was surprisingly common (sorry, I don't have the citation handy).
posted by amtho at 1:42 PM on June 19, 2018 [17 favorites]
Similar flavor extracts are in some grenadines and Italian soda flavorings.
It's a more common allergy than people know. The main study of it I found was in Europe, but it was a study of the frequency of the allergy and it was surprisingly common (sorry, I don't have the citation handy).
posted by amtho at 1:42 PM on June 19, 2018 [17 favorites]
Oh, hey, the American Contact Dermatitis Society (ACDS) just named propylene glycol the allergen of the year.
posted by amtho at 2:23 PM on June 19, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by amtho at 2:23 PM on June 19, 2018 [10 favorites]
Are they homemade, store made, factory made? If you somehow rule out the almond paste, the other thing to look at would be the equipment used to mix and bake them.
posted by soelo at 2:28 PM on June 19, 2018
posted by soelo at 2:28 PM on June 19, 2018
Thank you for asking this question! I used to put artificial vanilla or almond extract in my milk until I noticed it made me feel weird... I bet propylene glycol is why!
posted by pseudostrabismus at 2:52 PM on June 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by pseudostrabismus at 2:52 PM on June 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
If the nuts used have suphites added (usually as a preservative), that might trigger migraines as well--I discovered this year that suphites are a trigger for me, and that packaged nuts and dried fruits are out because of this.
So you might have no problem with the almonds you usually get, but if the croissant makers may very well be using almonds with sulphites.
posted by redwaterman at 5:15 PM on June 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
So you might have no problem with the almonds you usually get, but if the croissant makers may very well be using almonds with sulphites.
posted by redwaterman at 5:15 PM on June 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
Also even if the paste was 100% regular almonds, that's adding a lot of almond all at once, much more than the slivers on the top. I can eat pecans if one or two but somewhere after that I get a bad headache. I'm not sure how many exactly it takes since with nuts there's either none at all or 'all of the bag'.
posted by kitten magic at 8:26 PM on June 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by kitten magic at 8:26 PM on June 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: I've definitely had almond paste in other formats previously but I don't think quite so much as is in an almond croissant, so likely to be one of these flavorings or additives. Didn't realize propylene glycol was in food, thought it was a plastic product to be avoided in skincare products--yuck! No matter what, good to have something I can name and avoid, many thanks!
posted by stillmoving at 10:35 AM on June 20, 2018
posted by stillmoving at 10:35 AM on June 20, 2018
propylene glycol is also in cake and muffin mixes -- a LOT. I believe it's in the mixes used by cupcake and bundt cake franchises also, and last time I checked it was in grocery store cake mixes. So, yeah. It's also in a lot of medicines.
posted by amtho at 1:49 PM on June 20, 2018
posted by amtho at 1:49 PM on June 20, 2018
Oh, and in deodorizers/detergents/perfumes. Almost universally. And deodorants.
posted by amtho at 1:50 PM on June 20, 2018
posted by amtho at 1:50 PM on June 20, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by icy_latte at 1:20 PM on June 19, 2018 [7 favorites]