What Are Alliums?
Alliums are any of a large genus, allium that are part of the bulbous herbs of the lily family. This includes onion, garlic, chive, leek, and shallot.
Allergy Friendly and LowFODMAP Friendly
While 9 foods account for 90% of all food allergies: soy, wheat, egg, dairy, peanut, tree nut, fin fish, shellfish and sesame; it is possible to be allergic, anaphylactic even, to any food.
My oldest child is allergic to peanut, pecan, walnut, shellfish, oat, garlic, sweet potato, watermelon and pear. Peanut is pretty tough as far as cross-contamination goes, but garlic is extremely difficult, it’s in everything.
One of the best product finds we happened upon is a line of foods called Fody. They are a line of condiments, spices, and other foods that are friendly for those that suffer from IBS or otherwise need to follow a LowFODMAP diet. Since part of the LowFODMAP diet includes being onion and garlic free – this worked out great for our allergy situation. However, it can be very pricey, so I recreated my own salsa recipe that excludes onion and garlic.
Tomatoes Matter
The main ingredient makes a huge difference. Not all tomatoes are created equal. The combination of Roma tomatoes and vine ripened tomatoes gives a perfect balance of tangy and sweet. If you go wit hall one type of tomato the flavor will be noticeably off. Additionally, you can use canned tomatoes, but fresh are best with the quality of flavor that can’t be beat!
If I do use canned tomatoes, I do still purchase a can of regular whole tomatoes, and a can of whole Roma tomatoes. I drain the juices, fill with water and rinse the tomatoes several times to get rid of any “tinny” flavor from the cans, but honestly if you can use fresh – it’s so delicious!
Making Up for Flavor
I do love garlic and onion. They are good for you, if you aren’t allergic to them, and the flavor is yummy! It really adds so much depth to every dish. My husband also suffered from food allergies to: pea, avocado, mushroom, onion, sesame and mustard. In order to make this safe for him as well we also ditched the onion.
Taking away two amazing flavor boosters leaves the salsa very bland as-is without making some modifications. I kicked up the flavor by upping my spice in the jalapeño’s be only removing about 1/4 of the seeds. I also use more cilantro than normal, and add in some cumin. Cumin is known as the savory equivalent of cinnamon, and is the perfect addition for adding depth of flavor and increasing the savory flavors.
Let it Marinate
Now while you can definitely dip in right away, I recommend storing your salsa in a glass jar for at least 12-24 hours to allow all the flavors to marinate together. I will make it the day before, let it sit in the fridge overnight, and it is amazing the following day!
Allium Free Salsa | Onion & Garlic Free
Ingredients
- 4 Roma Tomatoes, quartered
- 4 Vine Ripened Tomatoes, quartered
- 1 Bunch Cilantro, chopped
- 2 Jalapeño's, chopped remove 1/4-1/2 the seeds depending on how spicy you like it
- 2 tablespoon Lime Juice
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
- 1 teaspoon Sea Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground Pepper
Instructions
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Add all ingredients to a large blender. Pulse for about 30-60 seconds until well combined, chopped well, and desired consistency is achieved. Store in the refrigerator overnight, and serve the next day.
I feel your pain on the search for foods/recipes for allergy problems. I suffer anaphylaxis type allergic reactions to chicken, shellfish, milk, coconut, palm, sunflower, safflower, all tree nuts including hickory, and rosemary and have had the blood work to prove them. I’ve had the same reaction from food challenges for olive oil, oregano, quillaja, cola nut, avocado oil, canola oil, garlic, onion, chives, shallots and asparagus.
I am so lucky to not have an allergy . However, I really hate allium. I just don’t understand how everyone loves raw onions and garlic in their food so much. The smell is so overwhelming (it stinks), and the taste is acrid with a burning sensation (and not the nice spicy kind). The worst thing is that the horrible taste stays in your mouth for hours and hours, usually for the entire day. It’s a nightmare. I don’t understand how everyone loves this taste so much. Since it’s impossible to find a restaurant that doesn’t prepare their salsa in advance, I am grateful for your recipe so that I can finally enjoy some delicious Mexican flavours at home.
Onion and garlic make me feel exhausted and my nerves feel shattered. I think a lot of people may have an intolerance but don’t suspect onion or garlic.
I will be trying this recipe today! I’ve been looking for a salsa recipe without garlic. For years I thought i had IBS until I had an allergy test done (skin prick) and was told I’m allergic to almost every food I’ve loved my whole life- beef, garlic, corn, celery, chocolate, soy, salmon, and the list goes on. It’s almost impossible to buy prepared foods that don’t include some form of corn, garlic, or soy, so I’ve taken to creating all of my own dishes from scratch. Salsa is one of those things I’ve been missing soooo much, so I was very happy to find this recipe. Since I’m not allergic to onion, if I were to add it to this recipe, how much would you recommend I add?
Thank you!
I’m so happy you found this recipe too! If you’re able to have onion- I would recommend using 1/4 of a red onion, chopped or added in chunks to the blender and then allow blender to chop. If you only like a mild onion flavor consider instead of red onion – 3-4 green onions. Hope this is helpful!
I hope you enjoy this at home as much as we do!
My daughter is also allergic to cumin. Would it still taste okay without it?
It would definitely taste okay without it. So sorry to hear if that additional allergy! It’s a hard one in many things and hidden in ingredients such as “spices” etc. to compensate for the flavor of not adding cumin, I would recommend adding cilantro to add a bit more flavor. Hope this is helpful to you!
Thank you so much for this recipe. My son is so allergic to onions and will love this. Can it be stored more than one day in fridge?
Hi Doris! Thank you for your comment! Yes we have kept it in our fridge for 3-5 days at most bit honestly usually it’s gone even before that because everyone gobbles it up so fast!
Have you heard of Asafoetida/Asafetida? It’s a spice common in Indian cooking which replaces onion/garlic. I’ve started using it in recipes recently to replace onion as it gives that onion flavour without the uncomfortable symptoms 🙂
Thank you! I will have to check this out!
I don’t know about asafetida replacing garlic and onion. We usually use it so it’s easy to digest lots of different kinds of beans we use in Indian cooking so it does not give lot of gas.
I know you can use cabbage instead of onions in cooking to give same flavor and texture.
Can you use canned japalanos? I need really mild salsa with no onions or garlic. I would skip the salsa altogether except it’s perfection with tortilla chips & a frozen margarita on a hot day!
Hi! Great question- while I do think it tastes best with fresh jalapeño’s, you can definitely sub in canned jalapeño. This is based on personal preference for spice and flavor so about 2 tablespoons of canned jalapeño per whole jalapeño called for in the recipe is a general rule of thumb. For this salsa recipe I’d start out with 3 tablespoons canned and see how the spice/flavor is and then add in that final tablespoon if you want more heat. Hope this is helpful to you!