Celiac Disease

Official Website of Celiac-Disease.com

You are here: Home / Blog

Blog

Review: Glutino Gluten-Free Donuts

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 5 Comments

Glutino has joined Kinnikinnick in making gluten-free donuts recently. I hadn’t seen them in any local store until the other day when I was in Whole Foods. I had a hard time deciding between the original glazed & the chocolate glazed, but ended up leaving with the chocolate glazed variety.

The donuts were just over $5 for 6 donuts, which is comparable to the Kinnikinnick donuts. You can imagine Jon’s surprise when I came home with donuts for him. His teeth were really sore from getting his braces tightened, so a warm, soft donut was just the thing to make him feel better.

Jon ooohed & aaahed his way through the donut & promptly asked for another one. That, I had to deny. He said the donuts were awesome, but not as good as the Kinnikinnick donuts. The Glutino variety don’t seem to be as dense as the Kinnikinnick donuts, so perhaps he just prefers them more dense? The taste & texture were good and not crumbly at all. They still have a cake-like appearance, but seem to be more airy, if that makes sense. Of course now we must buy the original variety the next time we make a trip to Whole Foods.

Glutino has been around since 1983 and has been providing gluten-free foods to those with celiac disease, gluten intolerance, wheat allergies and those who follow a gluten-free or wheat-free diet ever since. They currently offer more than 80 gluten-free products!

Glutino products can be purchase in stores across the US or online from various sources. Some of those sources include Gluten Solutions, Glutenfree.com, and Amazon.com. Some of the past reviews that have been shared here at Celiac-Disease.com are Glutino Bars, Glutino Chocolate & Yogurt Covered Pretzels, and Glutino Cookies & Candy Bars.

Have you had a chance to sample the new Glutino Donuts yet? How did they rate in your book?

Review: Glutino Gluten-Free Bars

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 3 Comments

When I opened the breakfast bars, I saw the marking on the box top that states “GLUTEN/WHEAT FREE, EGG, CASEIN, MILK FREE, CHOLESTEROL FREE, LOW FAT”. After reading that, I’ll admit I was a little worried that maybe the bars would not taste very good. I tried the same item several years ago and wasn’t impressed at all. The bars have been reformulated since then and have been getting rave reviews since the change occurred. I really wanted to like the bars because there they contain 12% of the RDA of fiber and 3 grams of protein. As bars go, these are pretty decent from a nutritional standpoint.

My favorite flavor of the four bars we tried was strawberry with apple following close behind. At one point, we started talking about trying to fry the apple bar to see if we could make a fried apple turnover, but we decided against it. It’s highly likely that the thing would fall apart if I dropped it in hot oil, but it sure would be nice to have an (almost) ready-made gluten-free apple turnover. If anyone knows that such a product exists, please tell us about it!

If you look at the photo on the box of Glutino Breakfast Bars, it looks like a lot of fruit filling is inside the pastry shell. When you open a bar and bite into it, you won’t find that much filling. I remarked that the photo was not true to what the actual product is like and my husband reminded me that the same thing can be said of Nutrigrain gluten bars. He’s right, of course. The good news is that even though there is not nearly enough fruit filling for my personal taste, both the outside and inside of the bar are quite tasty. The difference between the new bars and the ones I tried long ago is like night and day. It’s that dramatic a difference.

Glutino products are made in a dedicated gluten-free facility. The only allergen disclaimer on the box of bars is “may contain traces of soy”. These bars would be great for travel or to keep in an “emergency food kit” in the car. Since the filling might seep out of the end of the bars in extreme heat, it might be best not to store the bars in the car during the hot summer months.

When ‘May Contain Wheat’ Means Gluten-Free

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff Leave a Comment

For some reason, I was in the mood for white acre field peas recently so I put them on the grocery list. My husband does the basic (not specialty gluten-free) shopping at our house and he’s usually really good about avoiding gluten-containing products. He reads labels as well as any gluten-free expert. I’m usually the one who comes home with something that has wheat in it by mistake – not my husband.

As I was putting away the groceries, I quickly glanced at the back of the white acre pea can because I was not familiar with the brand Margaret Holmes. Imagine my surprise to see the words “MAY CONTAIN ALLERGENS: WHEAT (WHEAT GLUTEN)” under the ingredients which included only “fresh white acre peas, water, salt”. How in the heck would they get wheat into this product? My husband actually said he’d return the cans to the store, but I told him to hold off on that because I was pretty sure the peas were gluten-free.

The next morning I called the company that distributes the Margaret Holmes brand, McCall Farms, and was quickly put through to the quality assurance manager. This rarely happens so I was pretty impressed that the company had such a person on hand to address a consumer’s allergen concerns. The manager was not only very knowledgeable about gluten, but he also explained the whole process of how “may contain wheat” made its way onto a can of peas (that don’t even contain seasoning except for salt).

The FDA law regarding labeling all forms of wheat on labels of items sold in the U.S. went into effect in January 2006. When that happened, many companies went a bit overboard and started adding disclaimers to anything that was produced in a gluten-containing plant. McCall Farms planned to make a final decision about those types of disclaimers when the FDA finally ruled on what gluten-free labeling actually means. Like most of us, the companies thought the ruling was being finalized in August 2008, but that never happened.

As we all know, over two years later there is still no permanent decision by the FDA on this matter. Margaret Holmes white acre field peas are gluten-free and have been from day one. The company has sent them out for testing even though the product is not even labeled gluten-free in the first place. Due to the lack of a ruling by the FDA regarding gluten-free labels, the company might revamp its labels again, removing disclaimers that don’t actually belong on the products.

So, the next time you see something crazy on a label like “ingredients: pineapple, water” and the words may contain wheat underneath, you might want to think twice before passing the product up. Seriously, this is getting a bit ridiculous and if the FDA would just get off the fence and determine what gluten-free actually means in the U.S., many of these overly-zealous disclaimers would disappear.

Review: Conte’s Gluten-Free Ravioli

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff Leave a Comment

After hearing a lot of positive comments about gluten-free ravioli from Conte’s, I picked up the regular cheese flavor and tried it myself. It was pretty good, but not as tasty as the stuffed shells from the line. Spinach is something I try to eat a lot of so when I spotted Conte’s Spinach Ravioli at the store recently, I decided to try it as well.

The pasta itself is the same for both the cheese and spinach versions of Conte’s product, but for some reason, the filling in the spinach ravioli seemed to make the pasta taste better than the cheese version. In color theory classes, you learn that the exact same color can look different based on what colors you put next to it. With this ravioli, the filling inside really makes a difference in the overall taste of the product. Now that I’ve tried the spinach ravioli and found that I prefer it over the cheese version, I’ll probably stick to the spinach-filled pasta from now on. Like many convenience foods, Conte’s pasta isn’t on the cheap side. That makes them less than ideal for families, but the contents of the gluten-free pasta bag are just enough for two for dinner. The ravioli is very easy to prepare – just boil, drain, and top with sauce. I like a nice tomato basil sauce with the pasta, but Alfredo sauce would work well too.

The ravioli, an Everybody Eats multi-grain baguette and a nice green salad makes a lovely meal. There are just a few things I miss being able to order when eating out and ravioli is one of them. Therefore, it’s nice to be able to find something like Conte’s pasta meals in the store freezer. I’d prefer fresh gluten-free ravioli instead of frozen, but for now, Conte’s spinach ravioli is a nice option to have. The Conte’s frozen pasta meals make for a quick and tasty weeknight dinner which is something I can appreciate. The story of how Conte’s Pasta company came to be is interesting. There is a full line of gluten products and several gluten-free items as well. Now, if they would just make a gluten-free version of their lobster ravioli – that would really be exciting!

Review: Trader Joe’s Gluten-Free Snickerdoodles

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 1 Comment

When I made my weekly trip to Trader Joe’s last week, one of the store employees asked me if I had tried the new gluten-free Snickerdoodles. I had not tried them yet, so I was excited that the employee reminded me that they were now sold them. I love their gluten-free gingersnaps and use them for a pie crust or cookie crumb crust in desserts.

Upon first glance, the box & cookies remind me of the cookies made by Enjoy Life. The ingredients are very similar, too. The cookies have 130 calories, 4.5 g fat, 2g fiber, and 1g protein per serving (2 cookies). In addition to not containing any gluten, the cookies are also vegan and free of the 8 common allergens. There are 6 servings or 12 cookies in a box for under $3.00. I love the simple, understandable ingredient list:

sorghum flour, date paste, grape, apple, and pear juice concentrate, brown pure cane sugar, expeller-pressed vegetable oil (safflower and/or sunflower oil), natural rice dextrin, ground flaxseed, water, xanthan gum, baking soda, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, rosemary extract.

The cookies are extremely moist and have the perfect balance of sugar & cinnamon flavor. Jon said that he thinks they are better – a bit moister – than the Enjoy Life version. I enjoyed them with a nice cup of hot tea on a chilly, fall afternoon.

Trader Joe’s has a nice variety of gluten-free products under their name. Some of those items are:

  • pancakes
  • brownie mix
  • pancake mix
  • granola
  • gingersnaps
  • waffles
  • French rolls
  • flourless chocolate cake
  • brown rice pasta

In addition to those items, they also have many others that are included on their gluten-free list. The list can be viewed here. To find out if there is a Trader Joe’s near you, click here. Have you had a chance to try the new Snickerdoodles yet? What are your thoughts?