Two days ago, I had about an ounce of Emmantaler cheese (imported, I got it from CostCo) on a ham sandwich. It gave me an “itchy tongue” feeling, as Swiss cheese often does. It usually stops there, but this time my tongue swelled up, which usually doesn’t happen. The next day, the swelling was better, but my gums were inflamed and I had sores on the surface of my tongue. This has made it rather painful to eat anything that isn’t soft and mushy. I have food allergies to tree nuts (severe) and fish (mild), but I can eat all kind of other cheeses with no ill effects. And this was a rather unusual reaction for me. With my other food allergies, I get the itchy, swelling tongue, but not inflamed gums or sores on my tongue. I also tend to get nausea and vomiting, and difficulty breathing, and I had neither this time. What is specifically in Emmentaler that is not in, say, extra-sharp cheddar, that I could be allergic to? I’ve just been taking Tylenol for the pain (no other option, since I’m pregnant) and Waterpiking my teeth with water and listerine to help the inflammation. If it doesn’t get better in a few days, I’ll go to an ENT. But I’d like to identify what caused my reaction so I know what to avoid in the future.
Ripened cheeses often contain bioactive amines, such as tyramine or putrescine.. The amounts of these histamine analogs vary from cheese to cheese. They bother some people a lot.
Thanks, this helped a lot. Your link says that cheeses made from unpasteurized milk have more histamine analogs, and that would go a long way towards explaing why domestic (and therefore pasturized) swiss-type cheeses only give me a very mild reaction.