Black pepper is a spice in the Piperaceae family of plants. The dried fruit of the plant is referred to as a peppercorn.

Coloured peppers are not from different species, but much like tea, they are from different stages of the drying process. Green peppercorns are unripe, black pepper is from dried unripe peppercorns. White and red peppercorns are ripened seeds, white with the outer layer removed and red usually preserved in vinegar. Pink peppercorn is the exception, this is in an entirely different family of plants, Anacardiaceae, which include mango, pistachio and cashew nuts.

Black pepper is a low FODMAP food. FODMAP stands for Fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols. Foods high in FODMAPs can cause symptoms of food intolerance, affecting the gastro intestinal system and this can be mistaken for a true IgE food allergy.

Black pepper is a food high in salicylates. Salicylates have the potential to cause worsening of asthma, swelling, itching and hives as well as food intolerance symptoms in people who are sensitive to salicylates.

You can read more about Food Intolerances on the dedicated Food Intolerance Page.

There is anecdotal evidence that black pepper is linked to Pollen Food Allergy Syndrome, a study from 2007 (cited below), was unable to determine if this was due to Bet v 1 proteins, which is the most common culprit for Pollen-Food allergies or Profilin, which are responsible for Celery Mugwort Spice Syndrome.

If you are allergic to pink peppercorns only you may want to also avoid mango, pistachio and cashew nuts as they are all in the same family of plants, Anacardiaceae.

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