For the general population, we parents take for granted hailing down the ice cream man when we hear his high-pitched chimes coming down our street. We hand over some dollar bills for our creamsicles or Dora ice pops and proceed to enjoy our melty ice cream in the summer sun.
Parents of children with allergies, however, must read every last word on their food labels and must keep a running list memorized of possible allergic ingredients in order to keep their children safe. A trip to the ice cream man is not so easy for them.
Some of the most common allergies in children are eggs, peanuts, lactose intolerance, and gluten intolerance (celiac disease). Let’s not forget that some children are diabetic and need to restrict their sugar intake. In order to keep these kids safe, dissecting recipes for possible allergic ingredients is very important.
I was shocked to find many homemade ice cream recipes, especially for vanilla, included eggs. It’s also easy to avoid putting peanuts in your homemade ice cream but you still have to read the labels to see if any of your “natural” products were produced in factories that also produce peanut items. That info should be marked in bold lettering on the food label.
Diabetic children need to have sugar-free ice cream or ice cream made with sugar sweeteners. And if you’ve never heard of celiac disease, that’s an intolerance to gluten found in breads, cookies, and regular pasta. While those items are not necessarily found in ice creams, beware of “cookies and cream” flavors as well as the words “malt” and “modified food starch”.
News of food allergies seem to dominate the news lately so please take care to inquire with the parents of your children’s playmates so as to avoid an emergency situation. Many parents of allergic children are very vigilant and will inquire about foods being served at parties or playdates and will often send their children with a safe substitute but diligence on the host’s part will be much appreciated.
If you have a child with food allergies, you can find support and helpful information at Kids With Food Allergies.org They are a non-profit organization and they offer two types of memberships. The free membership gives you limited access to the site and the paid membership ($25/year) gives you access to the full supply of allergy-free recipes and the forums.
To help your search, here are some recipes that all claim to be “allergy-free”.
Please use your best judgement and ask lots of questions of parents when preparing these recipes if any of your guests have food allergies.
Diabetic Fresh Strawberry Sherbert
Egg-Free Vanilla Ice Cream
Gluten-Free Peach & Lime Sorbet
Dairy-Free Banana-Apple Ice Cream
Enjoy your ice cream this summer!!
