Romanesque Cauliflower (Couve-flor) : as beautiful as it is delicious!

Romanesque Cauliflower

A delicious vegetable with visual presence to match...

One look at the picture says it all: this gluten-free vegetable known as a Romanesque Cauliflower is simply visually fascinating in its structure and almost a natural work of art.  And, if you like the taste of cauliflower but find it to be to "bland" or lacking in flavor, and if you like broccoli but find it perhaps slightly too heavy on flavor, this romanesque cauliflower may be just what you are looking for: it tastes like a cauliflower but with the addition of a bit of broccoli flavor.


Romanesque Couve-Flor (Cauliflower)

I just encountered this vegetable for the first time here in Lisbon, Portugal.  They are available at a few of the supermarkets (supermercados) or local fruit and vegetable stands in the area.  Also, it was quite reasonably priced at €1.59/Kg (i.e., at today's exchange rates, that is about $.80/pound in USA terms).  Not bad at all.  This lovely example (image above) weighed just over 1Kg, so it was not quite USA $2.00.

Prepare it as you do your favorite broccoli or cauliflower dish and enjoy.  This should make a healthy diet / recipe choice as well. I like to bake/roast my broccoli in the oven in a cast-iron skillet (once cut into segments, that is), and I enjoy eating it plain or with a slight bit of grated cheese sprinkled over it, or even some ratatouille poured over the top (tried that last time and it was rather enjoyable).

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

Costco UK: Gluten-Free Organic Coconut Flour bulk bag

Nutiva Organic Coconut Flour

Gluten-Free Coconut Flour — Awesome GF Recipe Ingredient, Bargain Price!

If you are looking for great addition to your gluten-free baking ingredients, look no further than your local United Kingdom (UK) Costco right now!  This quite large bag (4#, or 1.81Kg) of Nutiva Organic Coconut flour was £4.99 (roughly $7.50 USD), which is a fantastic deal, and hopefully Costco continues to keep it available.

There are some things to note about baking with coconut flour: this stuff definitely absorbs liquids readily and your recipes will need to take that into account.  But, once you get the proportions right, it is a wonderful ingredient to add to your baked goods — use it in cookies, brownies, breads, pancakes, and so much more.  In moderation, it does not seem to alter the flavor-profile of most items either.  

I even used some of this coconut flour in my homemade hummus as a thickener, though it did impart a slight sweetness (perceived) and a noticeable taste of coconut when I pushed the proportion up a bit much.

Here's what the product at Costco currently looks like:

Nutiva Organic Gluten-Free Coconut Flour at Costco UK

Nutiva Organic Gluten-Free Coconut Flour Nutritional Data

Nutrition: Coconut Flour is high-fiber and protein.

According to the label, this coconut flour is a near "perfect" (nutritionally) ingredient for us Celiac Disease and Gluten-Free diet people: it is very high fiber (nearly 50% fiber by weight) and nearly a quarter protein by weight too!  Seeing how difficult it is to find high-quality sources of fiber for use in our baking, I am quite pleased to have this ingredient as an option.

Bottom line: this product is quite versatile and fun to try out in all sorts of recipes.  I definitely enjoy it in my baked goods and it makes a nice alternative to some other GF ingredients I would otherwise rely on.

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

Hazelnut and Blackberry Crumble Dessert Recipe

Simple Recipe using Local Foraging Bounty

Combining my Hazelnuts (Cobnuts) and Berries into a Dessert

Over the past couple months I was lucky enough to find quite a few wild blackberries, black raspberries, and hazelnuts (a.k.a. filberts or cobnuts) growing nearby here in Bath, Somerset, United Kingdom — along walking trails, bike trails, and other public areas. I have written about each component recently including:

• how to harvest, prepare, and toast hazelnuts, 
• recipe for how to make a Nutella (brand) type cocoa / hazelnut butter,
• simple recipe for plain hazelnut butter, and
• easy blackberry / raspberry cook and freeze recipe.

Now, it is time to put the individual core components to use in a simple-to-make dessert recipe!

Recipe, Directions, Ingredients

Although I have written and published formal gluten-free dessert recipe cookbooks, where each recipe includes the exact ingredient measurements used, I rarely go to such lengths when baking for myself — instead, I simply measure "by sight".  This recipe for a simple, natural, blackberry-hazelnut crumble is one where measuring the ingredients is rather overkill (in my opinion) since much of it can be done to "personal preference" or "to taste".  Some people will like more sugar added (I tend to prefer more tartness in this dish than may be average) and others may not like the taste of cinnamon, so simply go with your gut-feel on alterations and it will probably be fine.

Gluten-Free Recipe Ingredients - Berries layer, GF Oats, Filberts, Cinnamon

As shown in the first picture (above), I have simply used a rectangular Pyrex (oven safe glass) dish to layer the following ingredients into:

• some of my pre-cooked blackberries (or black raspberries) that I added a bit of lemon juice  (or a few drops of lemon oil), a small bit of vanilla, and some muscovado sugar (dark brown sugar) to
• some gluten-free oats or gluten-free oat muesli (I used Nairn's Gluten-Free Oat Muesli, which I have actually been OK with and which I plan to review later)
• a sprinkle of ground cinnamon
• a few of my toasted hazelnuts
• a slight sprinkling of additional muscovado sugar on top
• read next paragraphs for additional thoughts on altering this a bit...

Then, I just tossed this all into the oven at around 375-400° F (185-200 degrees C) for 15-20 minutes until I could see the berries bubbling a bit in the bottom layer.  I was really just going for warming the ingredients well and caramelizing some of the sugar in the berry layer.   I waited a few minutes after removing the dish from the oven and then served it.  

My recipe-notes-to-self: the muscovado sugar on top did not melt as I wanted it to — and, looking back, I would change something with the recipe: I would use a bit of butter into which I would melt the brown sugar and add a bit of vanilla, and then drizzle that over the top layer to help the surface of the dish look nicer and crisp up and caramelize a bit (but that'd also prevent the recipe from remaining dairy-free as it is now; then again, serving it with vanilla ice cream would be lovely too if I was to stray from dairy-free!)  

I was in a bit of a hurry when I made it, and though it tasted good (thanks to delicious ingredients) it would have been better with a more even, caramelized top.   Thankfully, I have more of thee ingredients to put to use!

The finished product: baked, warm, and ready for eating!

Enjoy.

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

Fresh Black Raspberries in Season

Fresh Black Raspberries: Yum!

Bushes full of berries...

There has been an absolute abundance of wild berries this year here in the southwest United Kingdom, especially blackberries and black raspberries.  The image below shows a typical wild black raspberry bush, or patch — perhaps better described as a hedge of raspberries or nearly a forest of raspberries — that I keep running into all over the region along footpaths, bridal paths, hiking trails, biking trails, and so on.

Wild Black Raspberries on the bushes

These berries are simply everywhere: I call these berries the "national weed of the UK" due to how widespread they are.   I definitely do not mind, as unlike most "weeds", these plants produce a very useful crop — a delicious fruit that is quite versatile and can be used in many of my gluten-free recipes.  I used to pick these same types of berries in Ohio in the United States, but I never encountered them in such abundance as I have seen here.

...but, picking still takes time.

Even with so many berries on so many bushes, I have found that my ability to pick them peaks out at about 1 quart per hour.  The black raspberries are quite a bit smaller than the nice big plump fresh blackberries I was picking earlier this year (compare the picture below to the pictures in the blackberry blog-link — shown in same size pan); in fact, it probably takes 6 or 8 of these small berries to equal the size of a medium blackberry.

Next, there is the issue of the thorns on the bushes that must be avoided; those do not feel so nice and/or can get get your clothing all caught up in them.  If that were not enough, so often where these wild raspberries are growing, so grow large patches of stinging nettles around them and/or mixed throughout them — and if you have experienced the "sting" of those stinging nettles, you will soon realize why it is with great care (even if it slows down the harvest) that I work my way through the wild berry patches.

Fresh-picked black raspberries - much smaller berry than blackberries.

Lovely treat worth the effort

Even with the effort required to pick these lovely little flavorful berries, it is so worth it!  Much like with the blackberries, I eat these black raspberries fresh and I also freeze any extra ones.  I freeze some of the berries whole and others I cook down a bit prior to freezing the resulting very thick puree (many of the berries remain nearly whole).  I use these in some lovely gluten-free berry pies and other dessert recipes too!

One characteristic of the black raspberry I very much prefer to the larger blackberry is how it stays much more solid and has less liquid (per volume) than the blackberry when cooked — this denser and more solid texture makes for a much nicer berry pie, berry crisp or crumble, and so forth (the dessert does not succumb to sogginess).  And, they are simply loaded with flavor!  This all makes for them being quite a treat when placed in the morning granola or yogurt.  Hope you have a chance to enjoy some where you are.

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

Gluten-Free Recipe: Fresh Hazelnut Butter

Simple Recipe for Homemade Hazelnut Butter

It does not get any easier!

I have been putting my freshly picked and roasted hazelnuts (aka, cobnuts or filberts) to use in a variety of ways in my gluten-free baking and cooking. My last blog posting was about how to make your own Nutella (type) hazelnut / cocoa spread.  This time, things get even easier since my hazelnut butter is just a simplified version of the last recipe — basically just leave out the cocoa and sugar.

Ingredients / Directions

Hopefully you have access to a nice chopper, food processor, or heavy duty blender (e.g., a Vitamixer) into which you can place your roasted hazelnuts. Choose whatever quantity of hazelnuts you want and grind / chop the nuts until they are as coarse-ground or fine-ground as you prefer (I opt for a more coarse-ground version, as shown in pictures here).

Once chopped to near-final desired, add some gluten-free vegetable oil to your mix to make it somewhat "spreadable" — I chose sunflower oil.  The amount you use will depend on how thick / thin you want your hazelnut butter to be.  Now, you can mix in the oil by hand (to preserve the coarseness of your ground nuts), or if you are going for a creamier butter, you can use your Vitamix or other suitable appliance to further chop the nuts down along with the oil until you have a creamy product.

Although I do not personally use these, optional ingredients  (to personal taste) can include a touch of salt and/or sugar.  That's essentially it, and your fresh-made hazelnut butter should be absolutely delicious!

Fresh Ground Roasted Homemade Roasted Hazelnut / Cobnut / Filbert Butter

I placed the end product of my recipe into some recycled Greek Yogurt containers I cleaned up, and the butter has been fine for a week or so outside of refrigeration.

Next recipe using these lovely fresh-picked and roasted hazelnuts: I will combine them with some fresh-picked black raspberries, some gluten-free oats, and a few other ingredients to back up a "crumble" that is just lovely.

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

Recipe : Nutella-like, but better, Hazelnut / Cocoa Spread

Chocolate Hazelnut Enjoyment

Simple Recipe for Nutella-like Hazelnut / Cocoa Treat

I just recently harvested and roasted some fresh Hazelnuts / Cobnuts for gluten-free recipes I think they will work well in.  I am starting with some very simple ways to use them, beginning with a variation on the Nutella (brand) chocolate-hazelnut spread.

My version is quite different from Nutella — if anything it is much closer to what a premium / gourmet brand of chocolate hazelnut spread called Rawtella is like. That is, simple core ingredients without the extra junk I do not want.  I found Nutella's recipe online to be the following:

Ingredients. Sugar, Vegetable Oil, Hazelnuts (13%), Skim Milk Powder (8.7%), Fat-Reduced Cocoa Powder (7.4%), Emulsifier (Lecithins) (Soy), Flavouring (Vanillin).

Compare that to something like Rawtella which is just Hazelnut, Cocoa Nibs, and Sugar — they keep it all "raw" by using dehydrated hazelnuts, but I will roast mine since I have no easy way to dehydrate them.

I much prefer Rawtella's idea of getting rid of Nutella's skim milk powder, the masses of sugar and oil, and the soy lecithin that Nutella uses (not to mention improving upon that paltry 13% hazelnut and even less cocoa Nutella uses).  And, like Rawtella, my version is not just gluten-free, but also dairy-free / vegan.

Ingredients / Directions

Here is what I chose to use in my own recipe for a rather "coarse grind" chocolate hazelnut spread / butter:

• approximately 2.5 cups of roasted hazelnuts / filberts / cobnuts
• between 1/2 cup and 1 cup of muscavado sugar — to taste preference
• 1/4 cup sunflower oil to smooth things out a bit
• 1 cup cocoa
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla

I used my Vitamixer to grind the nuts down to a slightly-coarse meal. Next, I added the sugar, cocoa, oil, and vanilla and ground the combination a bit more, stopping the mixer quite frequently to manually churn the mixture a bit since I did not plan to grind to a fully-smooth butter.  You can certainly grind to any degree of smoothness you prefer, and you may want to up the oil to help in this process.

That's really about it.  The final result is shown here — both in close-up (to show texture) and after I placed it in a plastic container.   I have found I like this stuff plain and absolutely love it on coffee-flavored ice cream!

Hazelnut Cocoa Spread - semi-course texture

Hazelnut Cocoa Spread - ready for use!

I now need to put some of my hazelnuts to use in some brownies, tart-crusts, and other gluten-free recipes, but for now I am going to very much enjoy this cocoa-hazelnut treat.  I also made some plain hazelnut butter which I will feature soon.

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

Fresh Hazelnuts Harvest and Preparation

Harvesting and Preparing Fresh Hazelnuts

Hazelnuts / Cobnuts / Filberts in Season in the UK

I very much enjoy the flavor of hazelnuts.  Hazelnut (the nut of the hazel tree) is also referred to as cobnut or filbert nut according to species.  I do not know the specific species of hazelnut I have harvested this year, but they sure do taste good!

I really have no idea how many hazelnut trees are in the UK since they do not appear terribly abundant  — I have only found a few so far (Turkey is the big commercial producer in the world with about 70% of the total, though in 2014 the hazelnut crop was 90% lost due to frost and such).

I encountered some trees located right along a paved public bike-trail nearby in the Southwest of the United Kingdom, but only located them by chance when I saw all the pulverized nut shells and mashed (by bikes) filberts on the trail.  There is a bit of work involved in manually collecting fresh hazelnuts.

It was not too difficult to locate the source cobnut tree(s) based on where the nuts had rolled to on the ground — just a bit of back-tracing.  But, then came the fun of dealing with stinging nettles growing all around the base of the trees! (ouch!)  With careful movement, I was able to collect about a kilogram of nuts with only a few nettle stings.

Hazelnuts Nutritional Value — Healthy-Eating

Hazelnuts are a rather healthy nut and a great gluten-free ingredient.  They are high in dietary fiber and low carb.  In fact, they have more protein than they do "net" carbs (carbohydrates less fiber portion of carbs). They are rich in vitamin E especially (100% daily requirements in 100g of nuts)!

In addition, the nuts contain a nice balance of minerals and other vitamins: B1, B6, and folate are notable vitamins; manganese, magnesium, and iron are noteworthy minerals.  Furthermore these nuts contain a lot of healthy unsaturated fats (especially oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat) that may even help lower "bad" (LDL) cholesterol.

Hazelnuts in Pictures (in husks, clusters, loose, and shelled) 

Here are some pictures that show the hazelnuts in their varied states, along with a look at the tree leaf that may help you identify a hazel tree along the way:

Hazelnuts / Cobnuts : on tree, in husks, and husked

Shelled Hazelnuts / Filbers / Cobnuts -- ready to toast / roast

Roasted Hazelnuts

How to Roast the Hazelnuts

It took a few hours to shell all the hazelnuts.  I chose a pair of pliers to crack the nut shells with and my wife opted for the meat-hammer to crack them open with.  Shelling the hazelnuts is the hardest bit of work in the entire process — it takes time and my forearms and hand muscles can still feel the aftereffects of squeezing pliers for hours.  Perhaps there is an easier way, but this worked I guess.

Roasting is optional.  You may prefer the nuts raw — the flavor at this point is much milder and the consistency is rather like fresh coconut.  Roasting really brings out the hazelnut flavor that you may be used to tasting in hazelnut praline and similar products, and I really like that well-developed flavor.

Once the nuts are all shelled, simply place the hazelnuts on a cookie sheet (or jelly-roll pan with a slight edge — as I have done — so they do not roll off) and put them into a 150-degree-Celsius (300 degree F) oven for about an hour or just over.  You can decide how long to bake them based on the desired consistency.  I like them nice and crunchy, but I do not mind them slightly soft in the center either (still with that coconut-like consistency).  You can test them by pressing down on them with a fork or other utensil and observing whether they "give" yet — a crunchy nut will not give at all.  My preferred crunchier nuts took about 1 hour and 10 minutes in a convection oven.

Coming up: Using Hazelnuts in Recipes

I have been using these fresh hazelnuts in a variety of gluten-free recipes lately. The simplest of these recipes is a nice nutty granola with toasted whole hazelnuts, fresh coconut, almonds, raisins or currants, and some gluten-free oats.

I have been making homemade hazelnut butter with the roasted nuts. Another favorite is my own version of "Nutella" (brand) hazelnut / chocolate spread but without all the sugar and with a LOT higher percentage of hazelnut and cocoa — here is a link to my gluten-free Nutella-like cocoa hazelnut spread recipe.

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

Wild Cherry-Plums Season: time to cook and freeze some.

Cherry-Plums In Season

Sweet Treat on Local Trees (Somerset, UK)

The summer fruit harvest continues.  Soon after my recent blog about preparing the wild blackberries harvested this year, the (apparently) wild plum trees in the area really started to hit their peak for ripening fruit. 

Fresh Cherry-Plums (halved / pitted)

I suspect these trees grew on their own (wild) since they are growing immediately along a public bike path that is carved through some varied, and otherwise rough, terrain.  As the plums were littering the paved bike trail and being turned to puree by passing bikes, I figured I might as well collect some and puree them myself at home.  So, now it is time to enjoy these fresh plums and cook some up for freezing in a very similar manner to how I prepared my blackberries for longer-term storage. 

There are so many different varieties and cultivars of plums that I am not 100% sure which type of plum(s) we are harvesting — I believe these plums are all "cherry plums" of some sort.  These wild plums have been nearly perfect even without any pesticides or other treatments applied to them.  We have encountered only 2 wormy ones out of a couple thousand plums so far.

The cherry plums coloration is quite similar to some Victoria plums, but those tend to get much larger.  Whereas these plums are all 2-3 cm (an inch or so) in diameter with a very small pit, the Victorias (from what I have read) get as big as 5-6 centimeters in diameter, much more like a normal commercial plum you would see at the grocery store. 

We also have what I believe are Mirabelle plums growing wild nearby, though they were not fully ripe yet — I plan to harvest some of those in a couple more weeks. If you want to see the wide range of plums and related fruits available, check out the incredible variety of Plums, Gages, and Damsons that are offered for sale on fruit-tree dealer sites like Pomona Fruits and Orange Pippin Fruit Trees. 

Recipe : Simple Cooking and Freezing Process

Much like my blackberry cooking process, this plum-preparation cannot get much simpler.  I just halved the plums, pitted them, and tossed them in my trusty large stainless steel 6-quart pot with perhaps 1/2 cup of water and brought them to a boil.  After that, I reduced to a simmer and stirred every so often for an hour or so until the puree / sauce was thickened to desired state.   After that, I waited until the sauce cooled down and then froze portions of it for later use while keeping about 1/2 of the sauce in the fridge for use in my morning yogurt over the coming week (with a bit of honey and vanilla added). 

Fresh Plums : in the pot, ready to cook down

Cherry Plums (after cooking down into a puree)

I sure hope these plums return in full force next year!  I am definitely a fan of fresh plums and naturally-occurring gluten-free treats that I can use in my own recipes.  I will definitely use these in yogurt, but I also think they are going to be quite nice in my cakes, pies, and other dessert recipes (whether as a sauce / topping or whether directly in the baked goods).  Yummy!

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

Fresh Blackberries : Simple Cook and Freeze Method

Extending the Fresh Blackberries Season

Blackberry Puree Ready-to-Use for Many other Recipes

This year I have been fortunate enough to encounter a bumper-crop of fresh blackberries growing wild where I live. There have been so many blackberries ripening at once that eating them all while fresh is just not possible — I can eat perhaps a quart of berries a day, but something has to be done with the remainder.

So, time to cook these berries up for simple storage (and reduced storage space in the freezer too).

The steps to this "recipe" cannot get much easier:

1. pick berries, unless a very nice neighbor or friend donates some to your cause;
2. rinse them off well in a colander
3. place the berries in a nice large pot in which you can cook down a substantial batch on the stove top at once.  If you have very ripe berries, there should be no need for any additional water in the pot (to prevent burning or such), since they should have a lot of their own natural juice
4. bring the berries up to a light boil — if your berries are as ripe as the ones I am using, your pot should have plenty of liquid in it just from mashing a large stirring-spoon through the berries a couple times.
5. reduce the heat to a simmer and be patient — stir every so often to prevent any burning and let the batch cook down as much as you desire.  This can take an hour or more to off-steam enough liquid to thicken the mixture considerably.  
6. Let cool and place into containers of your choosing and freeze (and, perhaps keep some in the fridge for the coming week or so) 

Fresh Blackberries ready to cook down on stove top

Although I could freeze the berries whole, I have limited freezer space and this process allows me to greatly reduce the volume of the berries.

I have kept a bunch of cleaned, used, pint (1/2 liter) size plastic yogurt containers into which I place my cooked berry sauce.

Then, I place these containers in the freezer for easy retrieval and thawing when I need blackberries for any other recipes I am planning, or simply for my morning yogurt.   I make my own flavored-yogurt by simply adding about a 1/2 cup of this cooked blackberry sauce to a cup of greek or plain yogurt, along with a bit of honey and slight bit of lemon juice (or couple drops of lemon oil).  This is the way a blackberry-yogurt should be — loaded with berries and full of flavor!

I also use this puree in some other gluten-free dessert recipes, like: cheesecakes (right in the batter), other cakes (in batter, or in the frosting, or both), berry pies (used along with some other fresh/frozen berries), my morning pancakes (in or on), and much more.

This is one of my favorite gluten-free recipes / treats that comes along during a limited season each year.   I hope you are able to find some fresh berries nearby to try this yourself.

Nicely cooked-down blackberry puree / sauce

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

Awesome Gluten-Free Bread : Genius Brand Spiced Fruit Loaf

Genius Spiced Fruit Loaf is Simply Excellent Gluten-Free Bread!

Fantastic Gluten-Free Bread at Reasonable Price

Genius brand Gluten-Free Bread : Spiced Fruit Loaf Variety

This bread is simply fantastic, gluten-free or not!

When I first encountered this gluten-free bread, with a brand-name of "Genius", I could not help wondering if the bread would live up to its name.  Without a doubt, it definitely does!

This is one of those rare gluten-free breads that I enjoy without toasting (worth noting, since toasting is a "requirement" for so many GF breads if you want the bread to have a decent texture and taste).  This sliced spicy fruit loaf review does not require any additional bread preparation in order to achieve optimal taste: just eat it, and enjoy.

Genius brand Gluten-Free Bread : Spiced Fruit Loaf Variety (close up of slices)

As you can imagine, the bread tastes very nice toasted too, though it is wonderful even fresh and untoasted. I find myself eating it plain, or with a bit of almond butter on it, or occasionally toasted with a bit of butter. In all cases, the texture, crumb, and taste are very nice and I am thoroughly enjoying the fact I am eating tasty bread.

One of the keys to the fantastic texture of this Gluten-Free Spiced Fruit Loaf bread (apparently) is the fact it does not rely on the old-school and more traditional gluten-replacements — such as Xanthan Gum and Guar Gum — but instead it uses Hydroxypropyl Methyl Cellulose, which is an inert polymer used as an alternative to animal gelatin (and, somewhat related to and along the same lines as the carboxymethylcellulose (i.e., Dow Wellence gluten-free gluten-replacement product), which I first wrote a blog about in September, 2012).  And, I am please to further report: this stuff does not bother my GI tract like Xanthan Gum (which generally causes me pain).

This was my first encounter with a gluten-free product that used this particular gluten-replacement additive to mimic gluten, and I must say it does a fantastic job of doing so (best I have encountered in commercial gluten-free breads).

The full list of ingredients is as follows (quoted from their site):

Water, Tapioca Starch, Sultana (12%), Rice Flour, Potato Starch, Sunflower Oil, Yeast, Raisin (4%), Currants (4%), Caster Sugar, Psyllium Husk Powder, Humectant: Glycerine, Stabiliser: Hydroxypropyl Methyl Cellulose, Dried Egg White, Cinnamon, Maize Flour, Salt, Maize Starch, Mixed Spice (Coriander, Cinnamon, Ginger, Nutmeg, Fennel, Clove, Cardamom), Rice Starch, Preservative: Calcium Propionate.

Notice that Psyllium Husk Powder too: more fiber and texure!  And, the dried egg whites are certainly going to help with that gluten-replacement also.

Reasonable Price for Great Gluten-Free Bread

I am actually tempted to call this not just "reasonably priced", but rather low-priced gluten-free bread — especially given the absolutely ridiculous price of some gluten-free breads I have encountered in the United States (I have seen a small loaf of gluten-free paleo bread at Whole Foods Market for $11.00!! ouch!!).   In fact, most commercially available gluten-free bread in the US is absolutely absurdly overpriced with typical tiny loafs costing in excess of $6 or $7, which is just crazy given that the base ingredients are usually quite cheap (potato starch, rice starch, etc).

Price is where the Genius Gluten-Free Bread shows its genius again: this loaf is only £2.50 (i.e., about US $4.25/loaf) and it is a nice sized loaf (400g, or approximately 14 ounces).  Basically, it is pretty similar in size to a "real" loaf of raisin bread or similar fruit loaf.

Hopefully you will have a chance to try this bread.   My product-review bottom line: Genius gluten-free bread is highly recommended!

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

Waitrose Fiery Alcoholic Ginger Beer Review - Refreshing and quite nice!

Waitrose Fiery Alcoholic Ginger Beer Review

A new Gluten-Free "Beer" to try

This adult-only ginger-beer is a delightful recent find I encountered in the United Kingdom at the Waitrose grocery store chain.   When I first came across the bottles at the store, I was immediately intrigued by the description on the label: "An alcoholic ginger beer made with Jamaican Ginger, Sicilian Lemons, and a hint of Chili."

Waitrose Fiery Ginger Beer (Alcoholic)

 Chili, did I read??  Interesting!  So, I quickly took a look at the product page on the Waitrose web site to see if this is considered a gluten-free alcoholic ginger beer, and yes it is.  Perfect... and, as soon as possible a couple bottles made their way into my shopping basket and on to be chilled in the refrigerator.

Review: A refreshing, satisfying, cool drink with added zing

I found this gluten-free ginger beer to be rather delightful.  It definitely left me satisfied and was a great cool thirst-quencher perfect for summer.

The effervescence is noticeable, though not overwhelming — I'd say it is just about right.  I have had non-alcoholic ginger ales that have been either too flat or too stingy-bubbly, but this drink gets it spot-on in my opinion.

As for the presumption of "heat" I made upon reading the "Fiery" portion of the label as well as that mention of Chili — well, I certainly do not consider it "hot" in any way.  Any "fiery" aspects are quite tame, though that is just fine with me given that the drink comes together nicely with the discernible hint of those Sicilian lemons present in among the notes of ginger and the ever slight heat from the Chili.  I like the drink quite a bit, though I would welcome a true hotter (spicier) version with more Chili if it were ever produced.

Since the options for gluten-free beer are somewhat limited, and I am not particularly an avid wine drinker (occasional is plenty), this GF ginger-beer fills a gap in my drinks menu.  Definitely recommended, and count me in for refills next time I make it to Waitrose.

Now, if only this would be sold in the United States of America (USA)!  I am not aware of anything quite like this in the US, but perhaps I can find a way to ship the stuff there if enough demand exists?  Shipping would be cost-prohibitive I fear, and each bottle is currently costing £1.77 (i.e., around USD $3.00 at the time of this writing).  That is certainly going to equate to a "premium" gluten-free beer / drink option by the time any shipping and retailing-costs are added.   Anyone have "extra" luggage space and heading to the US?

Nice, bubbly, GF Alcoholic Ginger Beer

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

Costco: Gluten-Free Honeyville Almond Flour bulk bag

Costco has Gluten-Free Honeyville Blanched Almond Flour

New item at our Costco: 3 pound bags of fine almond flour!

Honeyville brand Blanched Almond Flour (Gluten-Free) 3# bag at Costco

If you have been looking for a very fine almond flour for your gluten-free recipes, check your local Costco store: I just came across this product this week at our Houston, TX location.

The flour has worked nicely in a few recipes I regularly use in my gluten-free diet:

• pancakes:  I used along with finely shredded coconut flour and buckwheat flours and it was quite nice
• yogurt: I often put almond butter in my yogurt along with fruit and berries, so I tried this almond flour instead and rather enjoyed it
• chocolates: I created some quick coconut / almond "haystacks" using shredded coconut and this almond flour, cocoa, coconut-oil, and maple-syrup and found that to also be a tasty treat

This 3 pound bag was $18.99 at our Costco, and 3 pounds is a lot of almond flour!  I hesitated at first when I thought "how am I going to use all this?", but after purchasing it I am fully sure that I will use it quite quickly since I am finding it a versatile gluten-free recipe ingredient for so many things I make.  I think this will be quite nice in cookies and pie crusts and tarts and other things too.

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

Gluten-Free Halloween Items and Party Recipe Ideas

Some Festive Gluten-Free Halloween Party Ideas

Dressing up some favorite GF party items for Halloween

Have you been contemplating what foods to make for a Halloween holiday party — whether appetizers, desserts, or other snack items? Kate, one of our gluten-free blog contributors, put together a sampling of her own ideas for some simple to make, and simple to convert from everyday fair into Halloween themed variations, gluten-free recipes that fit the occasion nicely.  She served these up this weekend to a group of people that found the items rather delightful.

I think you will all agree, these playful holiday treats should be quite easy to replicate using your favorite recipes.  She created things ranging from a pumpkin that is performing some Exorcist-type expulsion of green goo (in this case a tasty guacamole!), to some lovely one-eyed (cyclops) chocolate-dipped strawberries, to some gluten-free cupcakes covered with spiders!

Other items at her party included "bloodshot-eye" deviled eggs and other adventuresome and creative treats.  Here's hoping these all provide inspiration for a great GF holiday spread.  In addition to being gluten-free and wheat-free, she was able to accommodate the dairy-free / vegan / vegetarian crowd very nicely too.

(pictures all credit: Kate)

"Guacamole-Barfing-Jack-o-Lantern"

Cyclops-eyed Chocolate-covered Strawberries 

Oh my... Gluten-Free Cupcakes crawling with spiders!

Gluten-Free Halloween Party Treats Ideas

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

Probiotic Amounts in Kefir and Yogurt : Billions, perhaps Trillions

How Many Billion Probiotics are in your Yogurt / Kefir?

Probiotic Pills Prices are Ridiculous Compared to just consuming Kefir / Yogurt

[Note: this is a followup to my last closely-related article where I consider Healthy Gut Microbes May Prevent Celiac (beneficial bacteria as a defense, perhaps)]

Probiotics are those "beneficial bugs" that exist in vast quantities in healthy gastrointestinal tracts.  I have written other blogs here including a recent one about how Healthy Gut Microbes May Prevent Celiac (and other autoimmune diseases).

With scientific studies, like the one mentioned in that blog, providing further evidence that a healthy digestive tract — aided by probiotics —  may help us avoid and/or improve outcomes for various conditions and diseases, we may find ourselves asking: where can I get the most probiotics for the buck?

The answer is simple: kefirs or yogurts are definitely the most cost-effective probiotic source around, and here's why... (and yes, I am aware that some people may have digestive issues that make "dairy" not sound like a solution they can tolerate... but, read on first and reconsider that point after you see the numbers).

Probiotics in Kefir / Yogurt: Billions (and TRILLIONS) of Probiotics

Redwood Hill Farm Gluten-Free Goat Kefir

To the left I included a picture courtesy of Redwood Hill Farms (brand) Goat-Milk Kefir.  This is a perfect example of a product that is utterly loaded with Probiotics!  From the Redwood Hill Farms web page discussing the "Health Benefits of Goat Milk Kefir", we can obtain information about how many billion priobiotics are in an ounce of Kefir, by extrapolating from this quoted material:

Laboratory testing shows that Redwood Hill Farm brand kefir containing our proprietary blend of probiotics, “Flourish®”  averages 2.6 billion live probiotics per gram!  We use an average as batches can vary slightly and the number of probiotics at the beginning of our products ‘life’ can be slightly more or less than at the end of the products life.

WOW! 2.6 billion probiotics per gram of Kefir!  Did you catch the "per gram" part? Yes, PER GRAM!  That is a TINY amount of Kefir with a HUGE number of probiotics. Keep in mind, there are just over 28 grams per ounce.  Therefore, there are nearly 75 BILLION probiotics per ounce of this Kefir! And, that means that an 8-ounce serving would have nearly 600 BILLION probiotics in it, an a quart container would contain around 2.4 TRILLION probiotics.

Now, compare that to all the probiotic pills on the market!  How many pills would you have to take to equal the amount in an 8-ounce serving of Kefir?  Better yet, what would it cost?! 
A quart of this specialty (Goat milk) Kefir cost somewhere around $6.00 at Whole Foods recently, which means an 8-ounce serving of Goat Milk Kefir cost $1.50 and provides 600 BILLION probiotics with it.

Even if you may have issues with dairy products, are you really sure your body could not handle an occasional ¼ Teaspoon of Goat Kefir that would provide around 3 billion probiotics? There are Twenty-Four (24) ¼ Teaspoon servings per ounce... or, 768 of these ¼ Teaspoon servings of 3-billion-probiotics each per quart!  How much would 768 "3 billion count" probiotic pills cost by comparison?

Probiotic Pills : Billions of Probiotics, at what cost?

Most probiotic pills I have seen at health-food stores and/or online are just ridiculously expensive for the amount of probiotics in each pill / tablet.  One of the better priced ones I have encountered is the gluten-free NOW Foods (brand) Probiotic-10 V-caps with 25 Billion probiotics per capsule and 50 capsules per bottle that sell for somewhere in the range of $16 -$17 on Amazon currently.

This particular NOW Foods gluten-free product has 10 strains of healthful  bacteria (including: Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium bifidum, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus salivarious, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus paracasei, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Bifidobacterium breve, Bifidobacterium longum, Streptococcus thermophilus ), which is similar to what you would find in many yogurt cultures.

A bottle of these will (theoretically) get you 1.25 TRILLION probiotics in total,  which is about the same amount as you'd get in ½ a quart bottle of that Goat Milk Kefir.  The difference: the Kefir equivalent will cost you only $3.00 versus the $16-17 for the pills.  So, you can save 80%+ by going the Kefir route and just eating a tiny 2 Teaspoons of Goat Kefir per day to get that 25 Billion organisms.

Now, if you absolutely cannot handle any form of dairy (or are a dairy-free / vegan by choice), the NOW Brand pills may be a decent option.  But, remember... keep any pills refrigerated to maintain high potency. THIS IS IMPORTANT, as exposure to heat can kill the beneficial bugs.  And, in fact, this is a reason for concern: if anywhere along the distribution channel (e.g., during shipment, trucking, shelf-stocking, transport, etc) those pills were exposed to a high enough temperature for a long enough period of time, the probiotics that you paid all that hard-earned cash for could be DEAD!  If the probiotic bacteria dies during transport/storage, then you have just paid a fortune for nothingness.

Are your Billions of Probiotics still alive (and effective)?

If you didn't already realize this, there is an easy way to test for whether probiotic bacteria organisms are alive and well.  With yogurt or kefir, this is simple enough... just place a Tablespoon of the yogurt or kefir into a quart of milk and sit that in your oven overnight with ONLY the oven-light on (for the slightest heat-source)... the bacteria should do their job and multiply like crazy and transform the milk into kefir, essentially.  In effect, you are cloning the bacteria in mass numbers, and you can make your own yogurt this way (same principle as a "starter" for sourdough breads).

So, in theory, if the probiotics in your pills/capsules are actually alive and functioning, you could add the (powdered) contents of a probiotic capsule to some quantity of milk and achieve the same outcome (i.e., produce kefir / yogurt).  I cannot say I have personally tried this, not for lack of curiosity, but for the simple fact I prefer getting my probiotics by way of kefir / yogurt instead of costly supplements.  If anyone tries it and wants to post their results here, I'd welcome hearing about your observations.

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

Healthy Gut Microbes May Prevent Celiac?

Intestinal Microbes Health Help YOUR Health

Those Beneficial "Bugs" In the News Again

I was just reading an article discussing studies by Oregon State University researchers into how gut microbes are closely linked to proper immune system function and other health issues. This may not be "news" to many readers, but it is further confirmation of the importance of maintaining a healthy GI tract — and it sure makes me wonder even more about the potential ill effects of using antibiotics to treat conditions, especially when not needed (since, antibiotics kill off the "good" bacteria in your gut as well as the "bad" bacteria in your body).

[Note: my next closely-related article is about Probiotic Levels in Yogurt and Kefir (billions and trillions of those beneficial bugs!)]

I have written here in the past about other studies connecting antibiotics and celiac disease, and this latest study deepens my concern. As quoted from the article I am referring to,

"In a healthy person, these microbes in the gut stimulate the immune system as needed, and it in turn talks back," Shulzhenko said. "There's an increasing disruption of these microbes from modern lifestyle, diet, overuse of antibiotics and other issues. With that disruption, the conversation [the "crosstalk" between gut microbes and our immune system and metabolic processes] is breaking down."

And, it is not just antibiotics that are brought into question in this study.  How about dirt... or, should I say our lack of exposure to dirt?  Yes, we (modern humans) are probably making things worse by being TOO "clean":

"Appropriate sanitation such as clean water and sewers are good. But some erroneous lessons in health care may need to be unlearned -- leaving behind the fear of dirt, the love of antimicrobial cleansers, and the outdated notion that an antibiotic is always a good idea. We live in a world of "germs" and many of them are good for us."

Our immune systems have developed over the course of human history to function optimally by adapting to natural exposures to varied bacteria (in things like dirt) that modern sanitizing products wipe out (externally).  And, antibiotics are essentially "sanitizers" that wipe out internally-present bacteria (including the plethora of "good" ones that we need to function properly).

Celiac and Other Conditions : the Role of Gut Microbes

The article mentioned Celiac Disease (i.e., autoimmune gluten allergy that requires us to be on a gluten-free diet) as well as other conditions where there is an interplay of gut-microbe-crosstalk and our bodies:

"An explosion of research in the field of genomic sequencing is for the first time allowing researchers to understand some of this conversation [between gut microbes and our immune / metabolic systems] and appreciate its significance, Shulzhenko said. The results are surprising, with links that lead to a range of diseases, including celiac disease and inflammatory bowel disease. Obesity may be related. And some studies have found relevance to depression, late-onset autism, allergies, asthma and cancer."

Seems like more and more evidence is piling up that should make us want to avoid things that destroy the optimal natural internal gut-microbe balance.  And, perhaps (my opinion), we can improve things in the near-term by introducing probiotics into our gluten-free diets and avoiding anything that will further negatively impact our systems.

I like how the article concludes with forward-looking thoughts about probiotics and such:

Once researchers have a better idea of what constitutes healthy microbiota in the gut, they may be able to personalize therapies to restore that balance. It should also be possible to identify and use new types of probiotics to mitigate the impact of antibiotics, when such drugs are necessary and must be used. 

Such approaches are "an exciting target for therapeutic interventions" to treat health problems in the future, the researchers concluded.

Sounds like a good course of research to me!  And, while these people study their "bugs", I will personally continue to avoid antibiotics and antimicrobial products while at the same time enjoying my "bug-filled" (probiotics) in things like kefir, yogurt, etc.  In addition, I think my beneficial bugs much prefer a highly vegetable-laden diet :)

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

Gluten-Free Health Warrior Chia Bar Review

Health Warrior Brand Gluten-Free Chia Bars Review

Chia Seeds meet Snack Bars : a great combination!

For any of you that have read my blog for any length of time, you have noticed I have written a few articles about recipes and baking with chia seed and/or product containing chia.  And now I am writing about a nice snack bar product line — each simply labeled "Chia Bar" of various flavors —  from a company called Health Warrior.

Health Warrior (HealthWarrior.com) Chia Bars

I have been a fan of chia seed (salvia hispanica) for years now, having used them quite regularly since 2008, as chia sees have a wonderful nutritional profile in addition to making a great gluten-free baking ingredient. Chia seeds provide a nice balance of fiber, healthy fats (Omega 3's), and protein. I am used to using them in their hydrated form in my various homemade drinks and recipes, but this time I am enjoying them in as they appear in these commercially-available Health Warrior Chia Bars.

Health Warrior brand gluten-free acai berry chia bar (close-up and full of chia!)

Pleasing Taste and Texture from Innovative Ingredients

The first bite into the acai berry chia bar variety instantly reminded me of some favorite sesame-seed snacks I have had in the past — the texture was quite similar, and I am not quite sure how much of that is from non-hydrated chia.  As you can see in the close-up photo, it sure looks like sesame-seeds in a way too, and I am not sure if what I am seeing is perhaps all due to white-chia-seeds, or if some of what I see is also the gluten-free-oats used in the formula (yes, they contain oats); sure seems like it is mostly chia seeds I feel and see.  They also employ cashew-butter in the base-formula shared across all the bar varieties from what I see on the labels too.

The oats almost prevented me from trying this product, since I have not had oats (even "certified gluten-free" ones) in years; I have found I can tolerate small amounts on occasion, but generally just avoid them.  But, I decided to make an (oats) exception and try this interesting chia bar product, and I am glad I did.

My wife and I both enjoyed it and found that the flavor was pleasing as was the texture: it was not too sweet, not artificial tasting in any way, but just about spot-on with regards to the berry-centric flavor and the sweetness (sugar level) was just about where I like it (not too sweet, and a reasonable net carbohydrate load reflects this in the nutritional facts printed on the label: 15g total carbs of which 4g are fiber and 5g sugar).  I can definitely detect some nutty flavor from the cashews, but it too blends quite nicely with the other flavor-contributors in the recipe: things like cranberries and strawberries (of which there are certainly more of than of than the featured "acai berry" highlighted on the label for its buzz-factor and popularity) and vanilla.

The bars are rather small (just under 1 ounce), and that is one reason I actually gave them a try even with the GF oats included (I figured it would be a very small dose of oats for me); and, I am delighted to report, the oats had no ill-effects on me either.  Regardless, the size is about right for a quick small snack while keeping the carbohydrate intake down (and, getting 3g of protein thrown in along with Omega 3's for good measure).  I think these bars will come in handy when out for a long bike ride or walk where I want a nice nutritionally balanced snack with me that also tastes good and transports well.

Bottom line: my impression is that this is a quality snack product with a taste and texture I quite enjoyed and can enjoy more in the future.  It was a nice alternative to many of the much sweeter date-based bars, and it is also soy-free and 100% vegan (given I eat ZERO soy, this was a great fit for me too!)  I still need to try the other varieties (as shown in the picture), but I expect they will be similarly enjoyable and welcome in my gluten-free diet snack-repertoire.

A related thought: I would welcome a sugar-free version of these bar if Health Warrior could create a stevia-sweetened version and replace the brown-rice-syrup.  This bar, due to its diminutive size, has a reasonably low-carb / low-sugar profile, but it has the potential to be a very-low-sugar option with some minor tweaks.  I have my own ideas for a recipe that could perhaps yield my desired super-bar outcome: use stevia and perhaps (though breaking with the dairy-free status) use some whey-protein as a "binder" of sorts (perhaps in combo with some hydrated chia); this idea may not work commercially, but I plan to play with the idea for kicks since I enjoy recipes and baking quite a bit.

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

USA Gluten-Free Food Ingredients Labels Law 2013 Updates

New USA Gluten-Free Label Rules for 2013 / 2014 —Clear Definition of "Gluten-Free" at 20PPM MAX

When do these new Gluten-Free Labeling Standards Take Effect?

I placed this paragraph before all others because it is very important to make sure you realize that these regulations and standards are NOT immediate — we have just a short one-year wait (unless something changes yet).

We have all been waiting anxiously (many years for many of us) for such standards to come about. And, finally, we have the ruling that becomes effective on September 4, 2013 (although, NOTE: the all-important [gluten-free products labeling] compliance date of this final rule is August 5, 2014).

Finally, Standards for Gluten-Free Products / Ingredients Labels!

This topic of United States gluten-free labeling laws has gotten quite a bit of attention lately now that the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published their final ruling on the matter in the very detailed 26-page PDF document: 47154 Federal Register/ Vol. 78, No. 150 / Monday, August 5, 2013 / Rules and Regulations — section 21 CFR Part 101 [Docket No. FDA–2005–N–0404] RIN 0910–AG84 Food Labeling; Gluten-Free Labeling of Foods.

I have included the quoted summary-text of the ruling (see below).  But, feel free to read that ruling in its entirety if you have time... it is interesting, and seems to really make a good attempt at preventing GF product manufacturers from "gaming the system" by playing with label wording and so forth; such attempts will lead to a product being deemed "misbranded", and presumably enforcement action will ensue quickly to minimize our risk of exposure to gluten.

What Counts as Truly "Gluten-Free" under new Standards?

Thankfully, the HHS / FDA ruling has made this about as simple as possible for everyone with Celiac Disease.  In short, a product labeled as "gluten-free" MUST test at less than 20 parts-per-million (20ppm / 20 ppm)!  That is really about it.  And, this of course means that, in practice, there can be essentially zero traces of grains like wheat, rye, barley and hybridized / derivative / related grains like spelt, kamut, triticale, and so forth in your foods, or that 20ppm would be exceeded for sure.

20 ppm means that you cannot have over 20milligrams of gluten per kilogram of food. Keep in mind that a milligram is 1/1000th (a thousandth!) of a gram, and a gram is approximately what a small paper-clip weighs —  so this is saying that a full kilogram of food (2.2 pounds of food) cannot contain more than 1/50th-of-a-small-paperclip's weight in gluten within in!  That is a rather small amount (chop a small paperclip into 50 pieces to see) across a rather large pile of food (eating a kilogram of food at once is quite a bit, unless it is nearly all liquid).

What About "Gluten-Free" Oats?

The HHS / FDA made gluten-free oats an acceptable gluten-free product label using the same standards: i.e., oats labeled as "gluten-free" MUST test at less than 20 ppm gluten in order to be considered gluten-free.  Again, simple.  You don't have to eat the GF oats if you still feel unsafe doing so, but at least you will know how much gluten is in such "gluten-free" oats if you choose to consume them  — the same percentage of gluten as any other "gluten-free" labeled diet products.

The Ruling: HHS / FDA Summary Text

Quoted from that PDF:

SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or we) is issuing a final rule to define the term ‘‘gluten- free’’ for voluntary use in the labeling of foods. The final rule defines the term ‘‘gluten-free’’ to mean that the food bearing the claim does not contain an ingredient that is a gluten-containing grain (e.g., spelt wheat); an ingredient that is derived from a gluten-containing grain and that has not been processed to remove gluten (e.g., wheat flour); or an ingredient that is derived from a gluten- containing grain and that has been processed to remove gluten (e.g., wheat starch), if the use of that ingredient results in the presence of 20 parts per million (ppm) or more gluten in the food (i.e., 20 milligrams (mg) or more gluten per kilogram (kg) of food); or inherently does not contain gluten; and that any unavoidable presence of gluten in the food is below 20 ppm gluten (i.e., below 20 mg gluten per kg of food). A food that bears the claim ‘‘no gluten,’’ ‘‘free of gluten,’’ or ‘‘without gluten’’ in its labeling and fails to meet the requirements for a ‘‘gluten-free’’ claim will be deemed to be misbranded. In addition, a food whose labeling includes the term ‘‘wheat’’ in the ingredient list or in a separate ‘‘Contains wheat’’ statement as required by a section of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the FD&C Act) and also bears the claim ‘‘gluten-free’’ will be deemed to be misbranded unless its labeling also bears additional language clarifying that the wheat has been processed to allow the food to meet FDA requirements for a ‘‘gluten-free’’ claim. Establishing a definition of the term ‘‘gluten-free’’ and uniform conditions for its use in food labeling will help ensure that individuals with celiac disease are not misled and are provided with truthful and accurate information with respect to foods so labeled. We are issuing the final rule under the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004 (FALCPA). 

DATES: Effective date: The final rule becomes effective on September 4, 2013. Compliance date: The compliance date of this final rule is August 5, 2014. See section II.B.4 (comment 35 and response 35) for an additional explanation of the compliance date and implementation of this final rule.

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.