About Tree Nuts
Tree nuts are common allergy causing foods in Australia.
In Australia, there are nine tree nuts including cashew, pistachio, walnut, pecan, Brazil nut, macadamia, almond, hazelnut and pine nuts that are common allergy causing foods. Pine nuts are included in the tree nut group, even though they are the seeds found in some types of pinecones.
To reduce the risk of your baby developing a food allergy, it is recommended that you offer tree nuts to your baby if your family usually eats them. Offer the tree nuts that your family usually eats as this will help to keep them in your baby’s diet once introduced.
When offering nuts to your baby, it is important that they are finely ground or offered as a smooth nut paste.
Pistachio
Pine Nuts
Brazil Nut
Macadamia
Pecan
Almond
Hazelnut
Walnut
Cashew
Which tree nuts should I include in my baby ’s diet?
Choose the tree nuts that your family usually eats. If you don’t usually eat certain types of tree nuts, they do not need to be a priority to include in your baby’s diet.
Safe eating to lower the risk of choking
Only offer your baby tree nuts if they have been finely ground or as a smooth nut paste. Even though some tree nuts such as cashew are soft, babies and young children cannot chew them into small enough pieces, and they are at risk of choking on them.
Why are peanuts and tree nuts different?
Tree nuts grow on trees. Peanuts belong to the legume food group and grow underground.
People who are allergic to tree nuts are not always allergic to peanuts and people who are allergic to peanuts are not always allergic to tree nuts.
Some tree nuts are from close botanical families and therefore have similar proteins. Cashew and pistachio are similar food allergens. This means that if you offer your baby one, you do not need to offer the other.
Pecan and walnut are also similar food allergens, which means that if you offer your baby one, you do not need to offer the other.
It is important to note, for people with food allergies, if they are allergic to one of these tree nuts (such as cashew), they are highly likely to be allergic to the other (pistachio). The same applies for pecans and walnuts – if they are allergic to one (such as pecans) they are likely to be allergic to the other (such as walnut).
Here are some suggestions for ways to offer tree nuts to your baby.
Choose the texture that your baby is managing.
Smooth foods
- Dilute smooth tree nut pastes with water and stir into pureed vegetables.
For more food ideas and recipes, click here.
Mashed foods and soft finger foods
- Smooth tree nut pastes can be mixed into mashed foods.
- Finely ground tree nuts can be added to cereals.
- Offer nut spreads on small pieces of bread.
For more food ideas and recipes, click here.
More roughly mashed and soft finger foods
- Use tree nut pastes in sandwiches, spread on toast.
- Add a spoonful of nut paste to meatballs.
- Try adding pesto sauce containing ground up nuts to pasta.
- Add nut meal or nut flour to muffin mix.
Toddler and family foods
An easy way to keep tree nuts in your toddler’s diet is to make a homemade tree nut sprinkle. Place a tablespoon of each of the tree nuts your toddler usually eats into a food processor or smoothie maker and blitz until smooth.
- Sprinkle this onto breakfast cereals, mix it into yoghurts.
- Add it to crumbing for coating meatballs or homemade chicken nuggets.
- Add to pikelet, pancake or waffle mix.
- Add it to crumble toppings for desserts or to top homemade muffins.
