Gluten Free Land Blog
Gluten Flour
I recently heard of someone I know, who newly diagnosed with coeliac disease, was baked a gluten free cake by a kind friend. Having only been gluten free a short time, he was missing a lot of his usual foods & gladly accepted, only to become very ill indeed. What went wrong?
The friend used a product called "Gluten Flour". Gluten flour is more or less wheat flour with much of the starch removed, leaving MOSTLY gluten!! While there are legitimate uses for gluten flour, for a coeliac, there is not much you'd want to avoid more than this! If you yourself have coeliac disease, you're unlikely to fall into this trap as you probably are (and should!) check labels carefully, but as you saw in this case, it was an ignorant friend, so make sure you are extra careful when teaching friends how to not poison you!
What really got me annoyed at this was that I have found that a local Countdown supermarket has decided to locate this "Gluten Flour" bang in the middle of their gluten free section.
Posted by Rory on Jun 6th, 2010 under Awareness of Gluten Allergy | Permalink | Comments(0) | Tweet | Facebook
Allergy Awareness Week
It is currently allergy awareness week 16-22 May 2010 and this year's theme is Allergies -no walk in the park
Posted by Rory on May 19th, 2010 under New Zealand Gluten Free | Permalink | Comments(0) | Tweet | Facebook
Christchurch Gluten Free Expo
This weekend there is a gluten free expo in Christchurch on Saturday the 8th of May.
The expo is an annual event put on by a local supermarket with the small entry fee going towards coeliac disease research. The show hosts literally dozens of local gluten free producers who bring along loads of free samples to try -you won't be requiring lunch if you go!
If you're in Christchurch and have never been, I thoroughly recommend going along. In addition to the free samples, most of the exhibitors offer massive discounts on the day. I know a number of people who go along to stock up their pantries with gluten free goodies!
The event is at the Addington Raceway Metropollitan Lounge from 10am - 4pm. For more info, see the FreshChoice Gluten Free expo website.
[Update:]A different event, the Gluten Free Food and allergy show is being held in Auckland on the 29th and 30th of May at the ASB Showgrounds. Information on this event is available here
This second event will also be coming to Wellington and Christchurch later in the year but we will remind you closer to the time.
Posted by Rory on May 4th, 2010 under New Zealand Gluten Free | Permalink | Comments(0) | Tweet | Facebook
New Zealand: Gluten Free capital of the world?
Could it be that New Zealand is the most clued up country in the world when it comes to gluten? Or do we just turn to the web for anything we don't understand?
I have discovered that Google trends, a tool which gauges what people are searching for on Google is showing New Zealand as the top country per capita when it comes to searching for either the terms "Gluten" or "Gluten Free"!
Posted by Rory on Apr 25th, 2010 under New Zealand Gluten Free | Permalink | Comments(0) | Tweet | Facebook
Hot Cross Buns
It seems like Christmas was just the other day, yet here were about to embark on easter already, but who here is going to be eating hot cross buns? I'm a firm believer that being gluten free shouldn't mean missing out on anything and hot cross buns are no exception! As such, I'd like to point out a few options for gluten free hot cross buns.
I've yet to see a Gluten Free Bakery that doesn't jump at the chance to make us hot cross buns, see our gluten free bakeries section to find one near you. You can write and view reviews for hot cross buns under breads.
I myself have been organized this year and have spent some time refining a hot cross buns recipe as shown in the photo below. It's pretty good, though I'm sure someone out there can do better, so feel free to rate it and provide feedback or if you have one of your own, do share!
Posted by Rory on Mar 30th, 2010 under Baking | Permalink | Comments(0) | Tweet | Facebook