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Low-histamine cooking means fresh ingredients, short cooking times and none of the usual triggers like aged cheese, cured meats, sauerkraut, tomatoes or citrus fruit. Which ingredients we leave out follows the food list of SIGHI, the Swiss Interest Group for Histamine Intolerance. How much histamine you tolerate is individual.
These recipes are meant for people with histamine intolerance diagnosed by a doctor. They leave out aged cheese, fermented foods, smoked meat and typical histamine liberators like tomatoes, citrus fruit and strawberries, and work with fresh ingredients and short cooking times – for breakfast, lunch and dinner, many ready in 30 minutes. How much histamine you tolerate is individual: test new ingredients one at a time, ideally with professional support. If you have a medical condition, talk to your GP or a dietitian.
A recipe counts as low-histamine only if none of its ingredients is on our exclusion list, which follows the SIGHI food list. It includes aged cheese, yoghurt and kefir, cured meats, smoked foods, tinned fish, seafood and offal, fermented foods such as sauerkraut, soy sauce, yeast or mustard, vinegar, alcohol, coffee, black and green tea, cocoa, shop-bought stock, pulses and tofu, tomatoes, spinach, aubergine, avocado, mushrooms other than button mushrooms, citrus fruit, strawberries, raspberries, bananas, walnuts, cashews and peanuts. Whole eggs, onions, hazelnuts and home-made vegetable stock without yeast extract are allowed.
Histamine forms mainly when protein-rich foods are stored or aged for a long time. So buy meat and fish fresh and cook them the same day, or freeze them straight away. Cool leftovers quickly and freeze them rather than leaving them in the fridge for several days.
Fresh meat and fish, rice, potatoes, oats, apples, blueberries and most veg are listed as usually well tolerated on the common lists – exceptions include tomato, spinach, aubergine and avocado. Most recipes here are built from these ingredients, from porridge to roasted veg.
After a medical diagnosis, a low-histamine diet usually follows for 10 to 14 days, then a test phase in which you reintroduce foods one at a time. The goal is a diet that's as varied as possible, not a long list of banned foods. If you have a medical condition, talk to your GP or a dietitian.
No aged cheese, no cured meats, no fermented ingredients, no vinegar and none of the typical liberators like tomatoes, citrus fruit or strawberries – instead, fresh ingredients and short cooking times. If you have a medical condition, talk to your GP or a dietitian.
Aged cheese (parmesan, Gouda), fermented foods (sauerkraut, kombucha), smoked and cured meats, tinned fish and wine, plus tomatoes, strawberries, raspberries, citrus fruit, pineapple and chocolate. Also pulses and tofu, ready-made stock, coffee and black tea. They rank high on the common histamine lists.
We follow the food compatibility list of SIGHI (Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance) and only mark a recipe as low-histamine if it contains no biogenic amines or classic liberators. What you personally tolerate is best worked out with professional support.
Hardly any food is strictly histamine-free – traces are in almost everything. Low-histamine means as little histamine as possible and none of the typical triggers. That's exactly how the recipes here are chosen.
For example freshly cooked chicken or fresh fish with rice or potatoes and veg like courgette, carrots or broccoli, roasted veg with herbs, or a potato soup made without ready-made stock.