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Are White Vinegar and Soy Sauce Gluten-Free?

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff

Once the subject of debate in the gluten-free community, it has now been proven that distilled vinegar is absolutely gluten-free. That includes white vinegar, balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar, and champagne vinegar – ALL distilled vinegar is safe for those on a gluten-free diet. However, malt vinegar, which is generally made from gluten grain barley, is not distilled and therefore it is not gluten-free.

Recently at a gluten-free function, I met someone who told me that no vinegar was gluten-free except for apple cider vinegar. The person read that on the internet, of course. As we all know, the internet can offer a wealth of information on any given subject. But there are no internet police out there making sure that misinformation is not being spread around cyberspace. That is why you can’t believe everything you read online. Even though I know I do my homework when it comes to gluten-free ingredients and wants to help others learn the intricacies of this diet, I still suggest everyone buy Shelley Case’s book, just so they can benefit from the wealth of information in it. Personally, I think Shelley’s book should be required reading for anyone on a gluten-free diet for health reasons.

It makes no sense to me whatsoever why people choose to believe others who don’t seem to do their own research about something as important as their medically prescribed diet. Instead, they trust misinformation, and worse – they spread that bad information to other unsuspecting people. It’s a vicious cycle and it seems never-ending.

Regarding soy sauce, the majority of brands are made with wheat. There is gluten in the finished product so it is not considered safe for those on a gluten-free diet for health reasons. It is not uncommon to find a well-meaning owner of a health food store reporting that wheat-based soy sauces are gluten-free. In fact, they are not considered so by people who have investigated this issue.

Luckily, there are several brands of gluten-free soy sauce including LaChoy, which is not marked gluten-free.  LaChoy is a ConAgra product so it is not marked gluten-free as they are behind the times on the gluten-free issue. San-J makes two gluten and wheat-free Tamari brand soy sauces. Keep in mind they also make several wheat-based soy sauces so you must read the label – the wheat-free products they offer are gluten-free.

The WalMart brand of soy sauce ‘Great Value’ was at one time labeled gluten-free so it likely still is. Please read the label before purchasing that or any other brand of soy sauce. Minimus.biz sells individual packets of Kari-Out soy sauce which is gluten-free. Many people like to take those packets to Sushi places. Most restaurants use Kikkoman soy sauce which contains gluten and is therefore unsafe for those on a gluten-free diet.

Have a question about the gluten-free diet which we haven’t covered yet?  You can now submit your questions here! (Note: All medical questions should be directed to your physician)

Is Vanilla Gluten-Free?

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff

Both vanilla extract and natural vanilla flavor are safe for those on a gluten-free diet. Even though to make each product, vanilla beans are soaked in water and alcohol, it is considered gluten-free. However, this was not known until just a few short years ago. That is why you’ll often see in gluten-free cookbooks and on gluten-free recipe sites, the term vanilla with “gluten-free” before or after it. The truth is that no vanilla – extracts or otherwise – contain gluten. Imitation and artificial vanilla extract are also gluten-free, though neither is nearly as good as the real thing.

McCormick recently began labeling their pure vanilla extract gluten-free, even though it always was gluten-free. There is no gluten-free product list on the company’s website which is annoying since they have started labeling at least the vanilla extract gluten-free. McCormick, like so many other companies, realized that some people will choose an item that is marked gluten-free over others that are not, when given the opportunity. However, there are less expensive vanilla extracts than the McCormick brand.

In Shelley Case’s book “Gluten-Free Diet: A Comprehensive Resource Guide”, vanilla, vanilla extract, vanilla flavoring, and vanillin are all listed in the gluten-free additive and ingredients list. It’s again confusing for someone new to the diet who might pick up a gluten-free cookbook at the library where every reference to vanilla calls for a gluten-free version. That would indicate there might be a gluten-containing version of vanilla out there somewhere.

While it’s frustrating that for so long, very little was known about what was and was not gluten-free – at least in terms of many processed foods – the safest thing to do is rely on factual information from nutrition experts like Shelley Case. She has devoted much of her dietitian career to helping those in our community safely follow the gluten-free diet. Vanilla is gluten-free so buy whatever brand of it you want to. It matters not if  ‘gluten-free’ is stamped on the box or not.

References:

Have a question about the gluten-free diet which we haven’t covered yet?  You can now submit your questions here! (Note: All medical questions should be directed to your physician)

Can Gluten be Cooked Out of Food?

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff

My bet is that the person who asked this question was told by a well-meaning friend or relative that you can crank the oven up to 500 degrees and cook the gluten right out of any dish. Oh if were only that easy – we’d all have it made in the shade! Gluten can not be cooked out of food, but some processing practices do remove the gluten protein. Baking or frying is not the same as processing so one has absolutely nothing to do with the other.

While it’s true that some gluten-containing foods are so highly processed that no gluten is present in the finished product, baking dishes at high temperatures will not remove gluten in any way. Anyone who tells you this can be done is confused and is likely not following the gluten-free diet themselves. At least for their sake I sure hope they’re not!

You can not remove gluten from gluten foods by frying foods either. There are a lot of inaccurate myths that float around in cyberspace and it’s confusing for people new to the gluten-free diet. The processing of certain foods which renders them gluten-free is not something one could do in a home kitchen. In the case of alcohol and vinegar derived from gluten gains, the distillation process removes the gluten protein. Baking or frying something at high temperatures does not remove the gluten in any way.

The gluten-free baking mix line Tastes Like Real Food contains wheat starch. Yet, due to the processing the ingredient goes through, the level of gluten present in the finished product is considered gluten-free. Gluten-free guidelines indicate there is less than 20ppm of gluten – not that there is no gluten whatsoever. Many gluten-free foods do have undetectable levels of gluten, of course. Those items are considered gluten-free.

Before believing a well-meaning, but misguided friend or relative when it comes to your diet, do the research needed to learn the truth about whatever you don’t understand or something that doesn’t make sense to you? If a statement seems unreasonable, it probably is exactly that. If your mother-in-law tells you that she ‘baked’ the gluten right out of the casserole by cranking the oven up to 500 degrees, kindly tell her that is not possible and that the food is not safe for you to consume.

Have a question about the gluten-free diet which we haven’t covered yet?  You can now submit your questions here! (Note: All medical questions should be directed to your physician)

Recipe: Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cookies

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

With pumpkins in abundance this time of year, there are so many fun items to be made, and eaten! Smaller pumpkins, called pie pumpkins, or sugar pumpkins are the best to use for eating.  These pumpkins can be used in many tasty treats including pies, cookies, bread, cakes, and soup.  This weekend I baked a pumpkin pie, but still had leftover pumpkin, so I decided to make some cookies.

Roasting a pumpkin and getting it ready to use in recipes is relatively easy.  Set the oven to 375’F, and cut the pumpkin in half or a few big chunks, whichever is easier to manage, since some pie pumpkins can be quite big.  Scoop out the insides and seeds (now you have more seeds for roasting!)  Place them in a shallow baking dish covered with foil, face down with a bit of water.  Cook for about 50 min or until tender.  Allow the pumpkin to cool and peel.  Discard the skins and mash the pumpkin with a potato masher.

If you don’t want to go through the work with the real pumpkin, or the stores are out of stock, you can always use canned pumpkin with equally yummy results.  The cookies have a soft, fluffy texture and will convert even the skeptical gluten-eater.

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cookies*

  • 1  stick of butter, melted
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon fresh ginger
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 2/3 cups of gluten-free flour mix (I used Whole Food’s 365 brands, All-purpose gluten-free flour)

* Always confirm all of your ingredients are gluten-free.

  1. Preheat oven to 350’F
  2. In a large bowl, combine butter and brown sugar.  Mix in the egg and vanilla.
  3. In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices.
  4. Combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients, in the large bowl, until blended.
  5. Drop heaping tablespoon mounds of batter on parchment-lined cookie sheets, and bake for about 12 minutes, or until springy to the touch.

Cool completely on a cooling rack, if you are able to wait.  Makes about 2 dozen.

Enjoy!!

Is the Gluten-Free Market Over Saturated?

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

Atlanta is probably the most gluten-free friendly city in the Southeast. Dining-out options here are too many for one person to experience unless they eat out most every day. It seems that each week brings another new gluten-free menu or gluten-free pizza option. There is not a 100% gluten-free bakery here yet but one is opening here soon!

When speaking to someone at the health food store where I get most of my gluten-free items, the guy working there asked me why I bought gluten-free products. We discussed both celiac and gluten intolerance and he then shared that 2 of 10 adults shopping there are buying gluten-free food. That is 20% of the customers there and we know only 1% of the population has celiac. Since most of them don’t even know it yet, the diagnosed number is much less than 1%. That means that a LOT of people who don’t have celiac are buying gluten-free food. Some buy it for their autistic children and others buy it to treat their arthritis or migraines. There are actually a host of health issues that people treat with a gluten-free diet.

The store mentioned above was where I overheard two women complaining about the gluten-free tags everywhere. One of the ladies actually said, “what’s with all this gluten-free stuff, it’s taking over the store!”. I had to stop myself from bursting into laughter when I heard that. Maybe that woman now knows how we feel at most mainstream grocery stores where the shelves, bakery racks, and freezers are filled mostly with gluten products.

Actually, the woman’s comment reminded me of how aggravated I was when Atkins-approved items started popping up everywhere in the store, several years back. I was not ever on the Atkins diet and found it ridiculous that every week a new item was marked “reformulated – now Atkins approved!” These days I wonder if food companies are going overboard jumping on the gluten-free bandwagon. How many gluten-free products do we really need? There are more gluten-free baking mixes available here than gluten ones. Most food shoppers are not following the gluten-free diet, yet you’d think half of the people shopping at Whole Foods were eating gluten-free, based on all their gluten-free tags that line the shelves and freezers at our location these days.

Personally, I love variety so I’m not complaining that there are too many products for us to enjoy. I just wonder if the market can sustain itself or if we’ll wake up eventually to find many of our favorite foods off the market. Larger companies will buy some of the old favorite brands. In fact, it seems that some of the larger companies are already buying some gluten-free products from popular gluten-free brands, but due to non-disclosure agreements, none of the companies involved in this practice will go on record about it.

What is unfortunate in my opinion, is that people in large cities have so many gluten-free food options while those in smaller communities have hardly any. Do we need 10 gluten-free waffle options before others have one? It’s all about supply and demand, of course. More people eating gluten-free equals more choices for them than in areas with very few people following the gluten-free diet. Last year we visited a grocery store where no one working there knew what gluten-free meant. Obviously, that store did not have one single gluten-free replacement food. It was kind of shocking and sad at the same time. All I could think about was the people who lived there that might be living gluten-free.

Everyone in the gluten-free community benefits when the market size grows. Even though we’re not on a trendy diet, like Atkins followers were, the gluten-free market is growing so quickly that it’s hard to imagine that it can sustain this kind of growth long term. The problem is that the mainstream food companies that are paying attention to our market (finally!) tend to follow diet trends. Soon enough there will be a new diet trend for them to jump on. Even though most people on the gluten-free diet are not being trendy, it seems unclear if mainstream food companies completely grasp that concept. Hopefully, the powers that be will read this Progressive Grocer article that explains the gluten-free market is here to stay.