Papa Murphy's Black Olives

Yes, Papa Murphy's black olives are high in histamine. Olives have to be cured to be edible, and that curing is what builds their histamine before they ever reach the pizza.

Why papa murphy's black olives are rated high

A raw olive is bitter and inedible, so every black olive you are served has been through a cure. Curing gives bacteria time to work on the fruit, and olives are one of the classic foods that come out of that process carrying histamine. Papa Murphy's lists black olives, water, salt, and ferrous gluconate; the water and salt are just the packing liquid, and ferrous gluconate is the iron salt that keeps the olives black. None of those add anything, which means the olives themselves are the sole rating driver here, and they land high.

What changes your risk

• The olives carry all of it — of the four listed ingredients, only black olives contribute histamine. The packing water, salt, and ferrous gluconate are neutral, so there is no milder version of this topping to hope for.
• Curing happened long before the store — the histamine was built during processing, not on the make line, so how fresh the tub is or how recently it was opened does not bring the level down.
• Baking does not remove it — heat kills bacteria but does not break down histamine that already formed. A baked pizza with olives is as high as the olives were going in.
• Portion matters, but the rating does not move — fewer olives means less of a high ingredient, yet a scattering of cured olives is still a high food on a dish, not a low one.

Lower-histamine alternatives

There is no lower-histamine olive at Papa Murphy's; the cure is the problem, not the brand. If you want a topping with some savory presence, the lower items on the menu are Chicken, Onion Mix, and Zesty Herb Blend. Those are the choices to reach for in place of olives rather than a smaller amount of olives.

How to lower the risk

Papa Murphy's builds to order, so the simplest approach is to pick your toppings from the lower list, choosing Chicken, Onion Mix, or Zesty Herb Blend, and skip selecting black olives as a topping. Because the olives are cured before they arrive, there is no way to order them in a form that is lower; the level belongs to the olive itself.

Common questions

Why are black olives high in histamine when they are just a fruit?

Olives cannot be eaten raw, so they are cured before packing. That curing process is where bacteria build histamine, which is why cured olives sit high on most histamine intolerance lists.

Does baking the pizza lower the histamine in the olives?

No. Heat can kill bacteria but does not remove histamine that has already formed during curing, so baked olives are still a high ingredient.

Is the ferrous gluconate in Papa Murphy's olives a problem?

Ferrous gluconate is an iron salt used to keep black olives dark. It is not a source of histamine; the olives themselves are what make this topping high.

What can I put on a Papa Murphy's pizza instead of olives?

The lower-histamine toppings on the published list are Chicken, Onion Mix, and Zesty Herb Blend.