Naturally Fresh Gluten-free Products

While checking out the offerings at my local Whole Foods store recently, I came across some candied nuts that did not list gluten in any form on the label. None of the ingredients were suspect. Each ingredient listed was something I could pronounce so I purchased the product. Not all product labels are easy to interpret, so it’s a treat when you find a company that makes it easy to do. Naturally Fresh, based in Atlanta, is such a company.    

Not only are all the Naturally Fresh Salad Toppings  gluten-free, so are many of the salad dressings they make. The only form of gluten in their products is wheat. In dressings, it’s in the form of soy sauce. In the event a dressing contains soy sauce, wheat it listed on the label, as required by law. Please note that the company does not label any of their products gluten-free.       

Below is the statement from the company, regarding the gluten-free status of their products. 

Thank you for your interest in our Naturally Fresh® products. None of our products have been tested for gluten, and we make no gluten-free claims on our dressings. We suggest you carefully read the ingredient statements on our labels before consuming Naturally Fresh® products.

None of our products contain rye, oats, or barley. We have received statements from the ingredient suppliers for the following dressings stating their products do not contain wheat, rye, barley, or oats.  

Naturally Fresh Dressings and Sauces that do not contain gluten:

• Classic Ranch
• Lite Ranch
• Bleu Cheese
• Honey Mustard
• Fat-Free Raspberry
• Honey French
• Caesar Dressing
• Bleu Cheese Vinaigrette
• Wine & Cheese
• Tartar Sauce
• Seafood Cocktail
• Seafood Dipping Sauce
• Organic Dressings
• Cranberry Walnut
• Fat-Free Balsamic Vinaigrette
• Roasted Garlic Bleu Cheese
• Jalapeño Ranch
• Classic Caesar
• Poppy Seed
• Thousand Island

Some people avoid all products that are not made in a 100% gluten-free facility. Not only is this expensive, it’s fairly difficult to do. Everyone needs to do what is right for them, of course. My personal experience is that consuming products that do not contain gluten works for me. Everything I buy does not need to have “gluten-free” stamped on it for me to know it’s safe.

The Roasted and Glazed Pecan Pieces from Naturally Fresh are excellent. They contain corn syrup which I’m not crazy about, but I don’t eat them often. At many restaurants here, the candied nuts contain wheat flour. Don’t ask me why this is, as I’ve not yet figured it out. I’ve made many variations of glazed or candied nuts and not one recipe I’ve used has ever called for flour of any kind.    

Naturally Fresh makes several products besides dressings and salad toppings that do not contain gluten. You can read the ingredients of each product on their website. Just remember to read the label at the store before purchasing their products since ingredients can change.