17 Recipes That Can Help Fight Allergies (and Taste Damn Good)

It’s that time of the year again. The frost of another barren winter has given way to sunshine, chirping birds, buzzing bees and blooming flowers… except those blooming flowers aren’t all they’re cracked up to be for those of us with seasonal allergies. That’s right—it’s spring. Or as those of us with hay fever like to think of it, “When plants attack” season.

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When you’re suffering a full-on allergy attack, you probably rely on over-the-counter or prescription medications to clear up your sneezes and watery eyes, but you can actually reduce your dependency on meds by eating allergy-fighting foods that boost your immune system or block or decrease histamine production so those nasty reactions don’t go (as far) into overdrive.

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There’s no real “cure” for seasonal allergies, of course, so especially if you have severe reactions, you’ll still need to rely on a consult with your friendly neighborhood pharmacist or your doc once the histamine does hit the fan, but making sure you get plenty of these allergy-fighting foods on the daily could help make your symptoms less severe, so, hopefully, it won’t be the end of the world if you realize your emergency purse stash of Claritin is no more than an empty bottle.

All allergy-related health data is drawn from studies published at the National Center for Biotechnological Information unless otherwise noted.