Is mascarpone high in histamine?
Mascarpone is low in histamine: it is a fresh cheese made by thickening cream with acid, and 20 unripened cheeses tested in Spain had none detectable. Mascarpone itself was not tested separately.
- Histamine
- Not detected
- Other amines
- Not measured
- Liberator
- Not on the lists we use
- DAO blocker
- No evidence
What each source says
| Source | Verdict | What it says, in our words |
|---|---|---|
| Lab measurements, Spain 1 | Measured | No detectable histamine in 20 unripened cheeses; mascarpone was not reported separately. |
| 10 published low-histamine diets 2 | The review's chart has no bar for fresh cheese; its cheese bar, cured, semi-cured and grated cheese, is excluded by all 10. | |
| Clinical review, 2024 3 | Names aged cheese, not fresh cheese, among the foods a low-histamine diet avoids. | |
| SIGHI food list 4 | See source | See SIGHI's own list for its rating. |
Measured histamine
| Food tested | Samples | Histamine | Other amines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unripened cheese, Spanish market (group) 1 (Table 1) | 20 | not detected | not reported |
| Milk sold in Spain 2 (Table 1) | 5 | not detected | putrescine, cadaverine, tyramine, spermidine and spermine not detected |
mg/kg = milligrams of histamine per kilogram of food. "Not detected" means below the laboratory's detection limit.
How freshness and processing change it
Mascarpone is not ripened, and the unripened cheeses were tested as bought. An opened tub was not measured; a 2012 review of dairy foods notes that amines can still build up in refrigerated cheese, so use it soon after opening. Desserts made with it and kept for a day or more are stored dishes with other ingredients, rated separately.
Unripened cheese group: none detected in 20 samples. (measured)
Not measured; storage gives bacteria time. Other ingredients carry their own ratings. (estimate)
Why we rate mascarpone 0
Mascarpone is closer to thickened cream than to cheese in the usual sense. Cream is heated, an acid such as citric acid is stirred in, and the thickened cream is drained until it is spoonable. There is no ripening, and most mascarpone is made without a bacterial culture at all. That places it among the unripened cheeses, the lowest-histamine cheese group in the studies we use.
In a survey of cheese sold in Spain, reported by a University of Barcelona team in a 2020 review, 20 unripened cheeses had no detectable histamine. The review does not list the cheeses in that group or report other amines for it, and mascarpone was not tested on its own, so the rating comes from the group and from how mascarpone is made. Milk, the starting point, had none either: five milks in the team's 2021 survey had no detectable histamine or other amines. The ripened groups give the contrast, with cheese made from pasteurised milk averaging 18.05 mg/kg and cheese made from raw milk 59.37 mg/kg.
The published diets do not single out fresh cheese. All ten diets in the team's 2021 review exclude cured, semi-cured and grated cheese, and fresh cheese has no bar on their chart. A 2024 clinical review names aged cheese, not fresh cheese, among the foods to avoid.
With mascarpone the real question is usually what it goes into. Tiramisu also contains coffee, cocoa and often alcohol, which are rated separately, and it is made ahead and kept in the fridge so the layers can set. A dessert kept for a day or two was not measured, and histamine forms in stored food, so we rate make-ahead mascarpone desserts 1 as an estimate. Mascarpone stirred into a sauce or served with fresh fruit is just mascarpone.
We rate mascarpone 0, "low". Keep the tub cold and use it soon after opening. In baked dishes and on a dessert plate, it is a rich, soft swap for brie and other ripened soft cheeses.
Questions about mascarpone and histamine
Is mascarpone low histamine?
Mascarpone is an unripened cheese made from cream and acid, and 20 unripened cheeses tested in Spain had no detectable histamine, so we rate it 0. It was not tested on its own.
Evidence behind this page
- Twenty unripened cheeses sold in Spain had no detectable histamine. 1
- Five milks sold in Spain had no detectable histamine or other biogenic amines. 2
- Cheese made from pasteurised milk averaged 18.05 mg/kg of histamine and cheese made from raw milk 59.37 mg/kg. 1
- Histamine in food is formed mainly by bacteria acting on the amino acid histidine, so it builds up in fermented and stored foods. 12
- Amines can still rise in cheese kept in the fridge; low temperatures slow the increase. 5
Sources
- Comas-Basté O, Sánchez-Pérez S, Veciana-Nogués MT, Latorre-Moratalla M, Vidal-Carou MDC. Histamine Intolerance: The Current State of the Art. Biomolecules 10(8):1181, 2020. doi:10.3390/biom10081181 (Comas-Basté O et al. 2020)
- Sánchez-Pérez S, Comas-Basté O, Veciana-Nogués MT, Latorre-Moratalla ML, Vidal-Carou MC. Low-Histamine Diets: Is the Exclusion of Foods Justified by Their Histamine Content? Nutrients 13(5):1395, 2021. doi:10.3390/nu13051395 (Sánchez-Pérez S et al. 2021)
- Jochum C. Histamine Intolerance: Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Beyond. Nutrients 16(8):1219, 2024. doi:10.3390/nu16081219 (Jochum C 2024)
- Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance (SIGHI). Food compatibility list for histamine intolerance. histaminintoleranz.ch (accessed November 2026), 2026. Link (Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance (SIGHI) 2026)
- Linares DM, del Río B, Ladero V, Martínez N, Fernández M, Martín MC, Álvarez MA. Factors Influencing Biogenic Amines Accumulation in Dairy Products. Frontiers in Microbiology 3:180, 2012. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2012.00180 (Linares DM et al. 2012)