THE NIBBLE » Gluten-Free

PRODUCT: French Meadow Bakery Gluten Free Bread

Editorial Assistant — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:55:56 +0000

French Meadow Bakery’s Whole Grain Bread,
Sandwich Bread and Italian Rolls. Photo
by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

French Meadow Bakery makes certified organic and gluten-free products that are casein-free, lactose-free and peanut-free, as well as kosher (parve). We recently tasted a selection of company’s gluten-free line of breads and cakes.

When we taste gluten-free baked goods, we do it from the same perspective as we taste all products. We don’t judge if the product is “good for a gluten-free product,” but if it is a good product that anyone would enjoy. We tasted two products in French Meadow Bakery’s gluten-free line that scored on this front; anyone in the family would enjoy them.

Gluten Free Multigrain Bread is made of a tasty mix of whole grain flour blend (amaranth, quinoa, millet, sorghum, teff), egg whites, organic flax seed, organic millet and organic quinoa and a touch of honey, among other ingredients.

Gluten-Free Cinnamon Raisin Bread is made of corn starch, egg whites, tapioca starch, honey, rice bran and germ, plus raisins and other ingredients.

The Gluten-Free Italian Rolls and Sandwich Bread are more appropriate for those who must restrict their gluten intake.

Some of our tasters enjoyed the Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, and ate every last one of the pre-formed, ready-to-bake cookies. We could taste that they were a gluten-free product; but the good news is that, those who can’t have gluten can keep these cookies in the freezer, ready to transform into a warm, fragrant cookie whenever the need strikes.

See the entire line, which includes a gluten-free pizza crust, tortillas, cakes, cookies and muffins, at FrenchMeadowBakery.com.

There’s a $1.00 coupon on the website for any gluten-free product.

Find more of our favorite gluten-free products.

PRODUCT: Dessert Hummus? Delightful!

Editorial Assistant — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:08:04 +0000

America loves hummus, as can be seen by the proliferation of brands and flavors in the refrigerator case of almost every supermarket and deli. It’s nutritious, gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan.

But what about dessert hummus? Dessert from chickpeas? That breakthrough concept is now available, healthy and actually delicious! Flavors include:

Carmel Apple Dessert Hummus

Chocolate Mousse Dessert Hummus

Maple Walnut Dessert Hummus

Peanut Butter Dessert Hummus

Pumpkin Pie Dessert Hummus

Toasted Almond Dessert Hummus

Read our full review, including all the ways you can serve Dessert Hummus.

Stay tuned for our review of our favorite traditional hummus brands in the November issue of THE NIBBLE online magazine.

Find more of our favorite (and more traditional) desserts plus recipes in the Desserts Section of THE NIBBLE.

Serve a trio of Dessert Hummus flavors for
dessert. Above: Caramel Apple, Maple
Walnut and Pumpkin. Photo by Hannah
Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

PRODUCT: More Gluten-Free Whole Grain Chex

Nibble Editors — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:02:48 +0000

Look at two of the hottest food trends—whole grain and gluten-free. Every one of us needs more whole grain in our diet, and one out of 133 people have celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder that requires a gluten-free diet. (Still more have simple wheat allergies.)

Corn and rice, among other grains, are naturally gluten free. Chex cereals is the first mainstream, gluten-free cereal line, with Rice Chex, Corn Chex and new gluten-free Honey Nut Chex, Chocolate Chex and Cinnamon Chex.

We recently sat down with a box of “Simply Nutritious Honey Nut Chex With A Touch Of Honey.” WIth 8g or more of whole grain per serving, it is a healthier sweet treat than almost any other processed sweet treat (doughnut, breakfast pastry, raisin bagel), and nicely crunchy, eaten on the go from a plastic snack-size bag. We enjoy it.

But as we spend out days scrutinizing words and labels, we have two questions:

The new version of Honey Nut Chex is gluten-free and made of corn.

“Honey Nut Chex With A Touch Of Honey?” (Italics ours.) Let’s send that one to the Department of Redundancy Department.

Honey Nut?Where are the nuts? (Competitors, note: This could become the next “Where’s the beef?”) There are no nuts in this cereal. So we looked at the package ingredients. Last on the list: natural almond flavor. You can’t taste any almond flavor.

This recalled our favorite Abraham Lincoln quote: “You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.” We don’t know if there were ever nuts in Honey Nut Chex, but has anyone else noticed they’re missing?

Learn about whole grain cereals.

PRODUCT: Glow Gluten Free Cookies

Editorial Assistant — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:16:07 +0000

Gluten-free cookies and milk. Photo by
Corey Lugg | THE NIBBLE.

More and more people are discovering that they have wheat allergies, if not full-blown celiac disease. Now, they can enjoy cookies so delicious that their wheat-eating friends will be grabbing for them too.

Thanks to the miracles performed at Glow Gluten Free, people on gluten-free diets can happily nibble away on Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Chocolate Chip, Gingersnap and Snickerdoodle cookies. How good are they? The label fell off the tin we were storing them in, and we didn’t realize they were the gluten-free cookies while eating them up at a visit with friends.

The all-natural cookies are also dairy-free and, of course, trans fat-free. (They do contain eggs and soy.) Share the Glow: Pass the word.

The cookies can be purchased online at GlowGlutenFree.com.

See more gluten-free products reviewed by THE NIBBLE.

PRODUCT: Glutenfreeda Gluten Free Burritos

admin — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:59:12 +0000

A gluten free burrito bonanza. Photo by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

People cutting out wheat don’t need to be deprived of their burritos. Glutenfreeda has introduced four frozen burrito flavors:

Breakfast Burrito

Chicken & Cheese

Vegetarian Bean & Cheese

Vegetarian & Dairy Free (vegan)

The burritos are easily microwaved. Breakfast Burrito, with well-seasoned ground beef and potatoes, is the most flavorful and our favorite, followed by Vegetarian Bean & Cheese. Chicken & Cheese and Vegetarian & Dairy Free needed spicing up with some condiments—but there’s always a ton of salsa around THE NIBBLE offices.

Glutenfreedas Burritos are made from all natural and organic ingredients and, of course, contain no trans fats, no hydrogenated oils and no GMOs. The four-ounce burritos have a MSRP of $2.99 to $3.29. See retailer locations.

See reviews of delicious gluten free foods on TheNibble.com.

PRODUCT: Sweet & Saucy Fudge & Caramel Sauces

admin — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 11:36:10 +0000

If you’re doing your share to celebrate National Ice Cream month, you need some appropriate toppings. Sweet & Saucy makes 20 different buttery caramel and rich chocolate sauces, handcrafted in small batches using quality ingredients. There’s a flavor for everyone:

Caramel Sauce: Original, Aunt Emily’s Cranberry Caramel, Butterscotch Caramel, Chardonnay Caramel, Cinnamon Caramel, Coffee Caramel, Frank’s Whiskey Caramel, Rum Caramel; seasonally, spiced Autumn Harvest Caramel.

Fudge Sauce: Original, Amaretto Fudge, Cabernet Fudge, Espresso Fudge, Mint Fudge, Macadamia White Fudge, Orange Liqueur Fudge, Peanut Butter Fudge, RazzBerry Fudge; seasonal, White Chocolate Peppermint, White Chocolate Strawberry Fudge.

The line is certified gluten free.

If you’re feeling saucy, also check out our Top Pick Of The Week chocolate and caramel sauces from:

Somebody’s Mother’s

The King’s Cupboard

Robert Lambert

From Cabernet Fudge to Orange Liqueur
Fudge to Peanut Butter Fudge, you can have
it your way at Sweet & Saucy.

PRODUCT: Oregon Dan’s BBQ Sauce

admin — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:00:50 +0000

We probably receive more barbecue sauce than any other food product. Is there that much barbecue/barbeque/BBQ sauce in America, or is it just a favorite product for people who want to be in the specialty food business? (It’s the latter.) Many people think their sauce (jam, fudge, cookie, whatever) is “the best,” and are encouraged by friends to go into the business.

While the world may need a better mousetrap, it isn’t looking for another sauce (…whatever). It’s tough even for spectacular products to survive. Some of our Top Picks Of The Week—the best of their kind we’ve ever had—have been shuttered (and by the same token, some truly mediocre products continue to sell well, year after year—a phenomenon previously noted by H.L. Mencken). In better economic times, we saw someone develop a unique and needed product to make tofu taste great, and the world did not beat a path to her door. Unless a close family member is CEO of a major food chain, getting distribution for a new product is like swimming upstream, without the genetics of a salmon. That doesn’t make us happy, because people who make specialty foods tend to be nice people, and we always want the best for them.

BBQ sauce with a focus on fruit. Photo by Emily Chang | THE NIBBLE.

Oregon Dan’s BBQ Sauce arrived recently: four attractive bottles in Original (pineapple), Medium Spice (Original/pineapple with a kick), Apricot and Habanero Hot. “Pure Ingredients!” exclaimed the bottle, and it is true that they are all natural, although the first ingredient is sugar. (Pure doesn’t mean healthy.) The recipes are complex. Original also has pineapple juice, tomato paste, onion, pineapple, distilled white vinegar, butter, cider vinegar, blackstrap molasses, sherry cooking wine, cornstarch, red pepper flakes, vanilla, spices and salt. That’s as classy a set of ingredients as we’ve seen on many a barbeque sauce bottle. Habanero Hot adds habanero purée (a quality ingredient—many sauces use the cheaper habanero extract), Apricot adds apricot purée. Oregon Dan calls the whole line “Hawaiian style,” although apricot and habanero are not part of traditional Hawaiian cuisine, as far as we’ve seen.

The puzzler is, why is Oregon Dan selling Hawaiian recipes. Given that the snowy mountain peaks on the bottle labels are not Mauna Loa and the website survey suggests the next flavor will be coming from Oregon (bing cherry, boysenberry, marionberry, peach, pear and raspberry are the options—cast your vote), Dan might want to forget the “taste of Hawaii inside each bottle” and sell “BBQ Sauce With Fightin’ Fruit.” A 12-Ounce jar $5.50 at OregonDans.com. The line is gluten free.

NEW PRODUCT: All Natural & Delicious Maraschino Cherries

admin — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:55:03 +0000

The maraschino cherry is no longer a bad-tasting joke. Tillen Farms has created a delicious, all natural maraschino cherry—no artificial colors or flavors, no sulfites or preservatives, no high fructose corn syrup. (And we’ve been feeding these “standard” maraschino cherries to kids, who gobble up all that bad stuff!)

Now you can bring peace of mind to parents and happiness of palate to hot fudge sundaes and Shirley Temples, not to mention adult fare like a Tom Collins or a Manhattan. Tillen Farms all-natural Merry Maraschino Cherries are the way to go with maraschino, made only with cherries, water, sugar, vegetable and fruit concentrate (for color) and natural flavor.

If you happen to have some cherry liqueur/kirsch, drain 10%-20% of the liquid from the jar and replace it with liqueur. The kids may not like it, but you will. Brandy works, too.

The cherries are $6.99 for a 14-ounce jar. If you want to buy a 12-jar case for gifts, stocking stuffers, etc., the price goes down to $6.39 per jar. You can purchase Merry Maraschinos online at TillenFarms.com. Individual bottles are available at fine food stores nationwide. The product is gluten free.

By the way, the ubiquitous maraschino cherries were once quite elite:

Life can be a bowl of maraschino cherries.

The Marasca cherry (Prunus cerasus var. marasca) is a type of sour Morello cherry that grows largely in Bosnia, Croatia, Herzegovina, northern Italy and Slovenia. With a bitter taste and a drier pulp than other cherry varieties, they are ideal to make cherry (maraschino) liqueur. The cherries were originally preserved in the liqueur as a delicacy for royalty and the wealthy.

The Marasca cherry tree is very fussy about where it will grow, so in the U.S., the Royal Ann variety is substituted as a “faux” maraschino. The FDA’s Standard of Identity defines maraschino cherries as “cherries which have been dyed red, impregnated with sugar and packed in a sugar sirup flavored with oil of bitter almonds or a similar flavor.”

Learn more about Morellos, Royal Anns, sweet cherries, sour cherries, and other cherry facts.

See recipes for black forest cake, whose chief decorations are chocolate shavings and…maraschino cherries.

Product: Dale & Thomas Chocolate Popcorn … & Grammar

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:39:42 +0000

Another great popcorn flavor from DaleandThomasPopcorn.com.

If you’re looking for an inspired gift to send to your favorite camper, hostess or celebrant, we can recommend the new Dark Fudge Caramel N’ Almonds flavor from Dale & Thomas. We’re still equally fond of the other chocolate-drizzled flavors, including Chocolate Chunk N’ Caramel, Chocolate & Peanut Butter, Peanut Butter & White Chocolate, Toffee Crunch and Twice-As-Nice Chocolate (dark and white chocolate). A gift box filled with six large bags is $39.95, in your choice of a single flavor or one bag of each of the six flavors (highly recommended!). Dale & Thomas sweet popcorn is not overly sweet (that is to say, it’s welcomed by the sophisticated palate), and is elegant enough that it can become a light dessert, by itself or sprinkled atop vanilla or chocolate ice cream.

All Dale & Thomas popcorn flavors are certified kosher OU-D and are gluten free.

And now, some editorializing from our editor:

Dark Fudge Caramel N’ Almonds. The colloquial ‘n’ is the written version of a verbal convention of dropped consonants in the word “and”: peaches ‘n’ cream, sugar ‘n’ spice, rock ‘n’ roll. Apostrophes take the place of the dropped letters; when only one letter is dropped, only one apostrophe is needed (e.g., smokin’). Over time, people have erroneously chosen to drop one or the other apostrophe; now, heaven knows, anything goes. It’s amazing to us that none of the rulebooks on grammar—which tend to be so rigid on the most minute points—address the varied uses of ‘n versus n’ versus the technically correct ‘n’. The American Heritage Dictionary, a great arbiter, accepts ‘n’ and ‘n but not n’—take note, Dale & Thomas. Oh well…while it can be confusing to the eye, it’s not as egregious as the rather sudden eradication of the personal pronoun “who,” on the part of many American speakers (we hesitate to say English speakers). Have you noticed that we’re now all objects: the woman that came here yesterday, the people that voted for Al Franken? What’s up with that?

Decadent. The word “decadence” was used in the Dale & Thomas promotion material to describe Dark Fudge Caramel N’ Almonds popcorn: “…bathed in waves of the warm toasty sugar and buttery decadence that we call Dale’s golden caramel.” Forgive the copywriter; hopefully (s)he will learn. Far larger companies than D&T blast the word “decadent” over the airwaves and in print ads, leading to its use by too many individuals. Ladies and gents, go to Dictionary.com or the word resource of your choice and look it up: “decadent” does not in any way refer to food. The word such people are looking for is luxurious, indulgent or something else, but not decadent. Decadent food does not exist, and if it did, you wouldn’t want to eat it. Even if it meant what people erroneously think it means—sumptuous, over-the-top, rich and luxurious—how can you refer to Diet Dr. Pepper as “decadent?” Editors around the world are ROTFL over that one.

PRODUCT: GoPicnic Ready-To-Eat Lunch “Boxes”

admin — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:00:04 +0000

Our “Natural Break” GoPicnic box had 12g of dietary fiber
and 16g of protein, with healthy food choices like Food
Should Taste Good multigrain tortilla chips, Wild Garden
sundried tomato hummus dip, Late July organic cheddar
cheese sandwich crackers, Trophy Farms oven-roasted
almonds, Mariani Ultimate Apricots and Immaculate
Baking Co.’s Chocobilly Chocolate Chunk Cookies.

GoPicnic’s boxed meals are dedicated to the proposition that people on the go can have tasty and much better-for-you snack and light meal options than are available at most delis, snack stands, and certainly, fast food counters. Select from more than 20 choices for breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks; there are options for vegetarian, gluten free, kosher and halal diets. No refrigeration is required. (And you can customize your own boxes if you’re with a group that can meet the minimum order.)

GoPicnic has packaged some of our favorite brands into the snack and meal boxes, including Top Picks Of The Week like Food Should Taste Good tortilla chips, Mary’s Gone Crackers and Sheffa Snacks, favorites like Salba Smart tortilla chips, Mrs. May’s Nut Crunches and Larabar, plus delicious new finds like Mariani Ultimate Apricots.

There are sweets in every box, too, but they’re guilt-free—either because they’re sensibly small, allergen free or otherwise “not junk food.” All the products are made with natural ingredients, no trans fats, no high fructose corn syrup, no added MSG.

Each box contains a nutritious meal. Mom would approve; in fact, moms call these products “healthy lunchables.” There’s also a series for kids called Mighty Munch Meals, which fit 35-10-35 nutritional guidelines (35% or less of the calories in the meal are from fat, 10% or less from saturated fat and 35% or less of the total weight is from sugar).

And GoPicnic boxes are fun! Each colorful box contains six to seven tasty food items—many organic and lower fat—plus utensils, a red gingham paper napkin (for the “picnic” effect), utensils, a jumbo after-meal mint and a lemon scented Moist Wipe. You may not be headed to a picnic in the park, but you might be on a long car trip or field trip, an airline flight, a business meeting or a sports stadium. Or maybe you just work long hours and are always grabbing for the wrong snacks. If you belong to any of these groups, click on over to GoPicnic.com and take a look at the “menu.”